The Masks We Wear
by DahkPanda
Summary: Kane has it all. Power, money, respect, you name it. But when it's taken away by the Syndicate, he does everything in his power to take it all back...a complicated task when Shaundi calls for one more set of hands. (Set in an AU that explains the coop partner) R&R!
1. Prologue

For the Disclaimer folks, I don't own any of the characters off of Saints Row, I merely am basing a story with these characters in it. The main character, Kane, is based off of the boss made by alith anar. My character the oddly named Painted Face, as well as a few other characters I will name later as soon as I get to them.

As to understand the idea, think of this as if this was during the game play where you were playing co-op. Kane is the main, and Painted is the partner. This is my logic to how co-op can be played, even if on occasion the two are on separate missions.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**The Masks We Wear**

When the Saints come to a charity ball, they do so in style.

A crowd had gathered around the building in Stilwater, in what could easily be called a red-carpet event; though only one known actor was there and the carpet was in fact purple made it difficult to be called that. Still, it was a charity ball, with fine dining for the rich an popular. Enough people were showing that much of the paparazzi had forgotten what the charity was about, much less what they were doing inside the beautifully designed building.

_We are the crowd  
We're coming out  
Got my flash on it's true  
Need that picture of you  
It's so magical  
We'd be so fantastic, oh_

The limosine pulled up moments later, and the cameras started to flicker to life as wailing of several girls (and some guys) started to grow. A chauffer opened the door, and out stepped a rather toned, gorgeous leg that was covered in a mere nylon stocking. A sexy little purple high-heel shoe propped itself onto the carpet, and out stepped out the sexiest woman alive…or at least in the moment that the paparazzi took notice of her. Shaundi smirked lightly and waved to the fans before stepping to the side.

She was followed by a man in a white suit, violet undershirt, and a white fedora. Pierce wasn't exactly a fit in with the Paparazzi but they continued to flicker pictures. Pierce was at least popular enough what with his new Saints Flo drink coming out.

Johnny Gat slipped out soon after, smirking in the way he did that made girls foam at the mouth before taking a step to the side as well. Still clad in his jeans and coat. Seems like he didn't even care what he was doing.

One final foot propped itself to the ground, a gleaming black shoe that looked to have been polished today, pants that were completely designed for tonight's festivities, followed by the matching black coat. Much like Pierce his shirt was purple as well, though the vest that this man wore was a darker shade of violet. As his face came into view, women screeched as he also made toothy grin. A strong, thick face with a very straight nose, black goatee with his hair slicked back. His eyes were the only thing unseen by the public, as even as the city was dark...he was wearing shades (probably stolen). He made a pistol motion to one of the girls, who fainted dead away.

Kane, the leader of the Saints.

_Leather and jeans  
Garage glamorous  
Not sure what it means  
But this photo of us  
It don't have a price  
Ready for those flashing lights  
'Cause you know that baby I_

Shaundi and Johnny went arm and arm into the building, Shaundi still holding a vogue-like smile while Johnny waved to the audience. They were followed by Pierce who continued to wave and at least get the attention of the folks. Kane stepped in last, marching lightly to his own beat as he continued to get the entire audience to faun over him. A nerdy 'number one fan' cried out as he tried to step onto the carpet, only for security to smack him back down.

As they were nearing the door, Kane spotted a reporter within the carpet boundaries, continuously telling the cameraman how 'fabulous' the Saints' clothing really was. A beauty in her own right though starting to show signs of age, Kane stepped up to her anyway. As the woman turned around to find who was nearing her, she was surprised to find Kane had wrapped an arm around her waist, dipping her like she were in a tango with him, and he leaned down and presses his lips gently to hers. The two held a kiss for a moment before he pulled back, setting her upright, and laughed as he walked away, leaving the woman completely flabbergasted at what just happened.

_I'm your biggest fan  
I'll follow you until you love me  
Papa-Paparazzi  
Baby there's no other superstar  
You know that I'll be your  
Papa-Paparazzi_

The foursome were inside soon after, and the room was revealed to them: A massive ballroom, filled with enough celebrities that whatever this charity was, it was getting millions already. The entire area was littered with people, and within moments the Saints dispersed. Shaundi was soon flirting with two guys in a row while Pierce flirted with a dark-skinned goddess who merely looked at him with 'you're really trying this, aren't you?'.

Johnny laughed, and brought Kane's attention back with a nudge. The two of them had something to do. They travelled to the back of the room, where the celebrities were thinned out, and more security filled its empty space. In front of them was a poker table with three occupants already sitting. One a beautiful brunette woman showing off an excessive amount of cleavage, her hair braided into a ponytail, as if about to take action at any second. She was glaring at the other two. The one across from her was a strong-chinned fellow, brown hair as well with a pointed nose, and dressed rather nicely himself, though even Kane could tell that the guy was the adventurous type and was ill suited for this party. This man was glaring back at the guy in the center, who seems to be the point of both he and the girl's frustrations.

Josh Burke, who was grinning from ear to ear as he continued to tell the girl just how difficult it is to play as Nyte Blayde seemed to be irritating the first two occupants. Kane chuckled as he eyed the prize of this small event on the side…a beautifully ornamental mask, looked pretty old and possibly the desired item that the two that weren't Burke were going after. Didn't matter to Kane though, chances are one of the two would win and any lost money tonight will just be given to Charity as well (which will be given back by revenue before the end of the day).

Johnny sat first, chuckling a bit and trying not to get annoyed by Burke himself, and Kane soon followed, holding out his hands in a 'hey, reaction.' In his own way, it calmed the two adventurers, though both still were not amused by the actor.

A gentleman sat down with them, setting out a deck of cards. Poker chips were suddenly placed beside each player and drinks soon followed. Kane sat back in his chair and grinned. "All right, folks. Let's have some fun tonight. Just be careful! Me and Johnny are gonna have to turn in early, we'll need to show up at a bank tomorrow..."

Johnny grinned at that, and though the others seemed confused at first, none dared ask what Kane meant by that. The man soon picked up the cards that were given to him.

Yeah, life was good.

* * *

_Promise I'll be kind  
But I won't stop until that boy is mine  
Baby you'll be famous  
Chase you down until you love me  
Papa-Paparazzi_

The Private Military Company weren't exactly ready for the Northern Hemisphere weather, as the majority of them had to deal with issues that often was dealt with in the southern part of the planet. Still, the heat itself was sweltering, and by the time they heard the roaring of motorcycles in the distance, each and every one of them were sweating bullets.

Still, it could be far worse. They were in the States, so not too many enemies would find the time to attack them while they were waiting on the docks. The deals here were often quick and often were some of the best deals on the market, so needless to say the three mercs that were standing there could stand around for a time until this trade was done.

When the bikes came into view, every merc stood to attention. The bikes were a normal sight during these deals, as the majority of this group were bikers. Still, they waited until they could see the giant SUV truck behind them. The deal, obviously, was on.

_There is a house in Sin City  
They call the Rising Sun  
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy  
And God, I know I'm one_

The bikes finally slowed and stopped not too far from them, and the truck itself stopped a distance away, though then turned completely around after a few moments, backing up so that there was at least twenty or so feet between the Mercs and the bikers that were protecting the truck.

The Leader, a decently tall woman of some sort, pulled off her bike first. The mercs never saw her face at all, just the complete bike-helmet with black visor. Still, she was a woman as her breasts were defined in a striped sailor shirt. A black trenchcoat covered over that, also hiding the two pistols she had as well as any other gun hidden away. The mercs knew better than to deal with a figure that was unarmed. As she stepped away from the pure black Kenshin bike, she merely stepped up to the three, with two large men behind her, decked out in what looked black leather armor that you saw back in Mad Max.

The first of the mercs just grinned a bit. "The usual?"

The Leader of the bikers just nodded, and turned her head to the truck.

_My mother was a tailor  
She sewed my new blue jeans  
My father was a gamblin' man  
Down in Sin City_

Two guys stepped out of the truck, and opened up the back of it. Two more stepped in to help, and in only a few moments, several cases were set beside the mercenaries. A few of the mercenaries' own people soon stepped in, first dropping a few suitcases of their own beside the leader of the bikers, then picked up the crates, moving over to the boat they had behind them.

The two men behind the leader moved over, opening the cases to reveal they each had cash in them. Cold hard cash. The two lifted up each stroke a finger through the cash, making sure they weren't just robbed. The Mercs waited, as they always did.

As the two finished, the Merc in front grinned. "All right, meet you in a few months, yes?"

The leader of the bikers nodded, though paused and held up a hand, beckoning the Mercenaries over. She moved to the truck with the mercs behind them, and as they drew close, the mercs suddenly saw one more large crate inside the truck. As the box was opened, the Leader moved a hand in, and pulled out a Grenade Launcher.

The sec ond mercenary saw the gun, and stared for a few moments. He slowly grinned much like the paler merc beside him. "Damn girl, you're getting some of the best equipment these days." He turned his head lightly to the gun. "…Ten crates of this stuff? The more explosive power, the better…"

The only female amongst the mercs just sighed, muttering something like 'men' before going quiet. The leader of the bikers just nodded softly, then held up three fingers.

The first, paler merc just frowned for a bit. "Three 'k' for just one gun?" After the biker nodded, he grumbled a bit. "Damn…all right. Ten crates should be enough to start with…gonna put a hole in our pockets…"

The biker pulled out a paper from her pocket, and held it out to the dark-skinned guy. The merc took it and read it silently, though his eyes went wide for a moment. "Guessing our technical support told you we were heading there, eh?" He states, then read a portion of the note aloud. "If you capture and take this man alive, I will half the price of this merchandise..."

The pale merc grinned. "Half price to get a single fella? You got it sister..." He chuckles and holds up a fist, to which she fist-bumps with him.

_Now the only thing a gambler needs  
Is a suitcase and a trunk  
And the only time he's satisfied  
Is when he's on a drunk_

The sound of a gun clicking from a few feet away sounded, and the group looked to the side to see a man holding up a shotgun. Dressed in a suit that just oozes the title of 'cop', the man opened his mouth. "Freeze, scumbags!" He snarled and glared to the lot of them. The sound of sirens could be heard slowly in the background. "Backup is on its way, any of you make a move and I will..."

Nobody saw the biker girl even pull out her gun, one moment her hand was on her side, the next the silver pistol was out of its holster inside her trenchcoat, and she fired. The bullets slammed into the cop's chest, and he fell over in a heap. She turned her head back to the three mercenaries and waved them off. The mercs nodded, looking quite amazed by the speed of the gun before they headed to their own boat, getting ready to head out quickly.

_Well, I've got one foot on the platform_  
_The other's on the train_  
_I'm goin' back to Sin City_  
_To wear that ball and chain_

As the mercs' boat was set and cast out and the bikers got set to high-tail it out of there, the biker leader just moved up to the fallen cop, who was just starting to move again. No blood from the 'chest wound', showed he was wearing armor under the tacky suit shirt. When the cop came to his senses, he reached for his shotgun, only for her foot to land on top of his wrist, breaking it or otherwise. Either way it made him scream lightly. She pointed her pistol to his forehead.

"Wait! You little shit...you kill me and you get the Syndicate all over you..." The cop said, grinning a bit.

The helmet clad woman just tilted her head lightly, and the cop continued. "That's right, bitch. I work for the Syndicate, you do anything to me, and the next actions you make will be your la..."

The biker pushed her gun into his mouth, cracking the top part of his two front teeth. He suddenly whimpered lightly.

"Shut up..." was all the biker said.

Well, mother, tell your children  
Never do what I have done  
Spend your lives in sin and misery  
In the house of the rising sun

In the house of the rising sun

The gun fire was the last thing heard upon the docks, right before the several bikes left. The biker leader got onto her bike last, watching as her own men rode away. It didn't matter if they left before her, they'd scramble as soon as they get off the docks, thus making it impossible for the cops to even find one of them. She sat upon her bike and looked about the Stilwater Docks in what was the Projects. The new 'purple' building that was Ultor Headquarters was giving her a headache.

Too many bad memories...

_Well, there is a house in Sin City  
They call the Rising Sun  
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy  
And God, knows I, I'm one_


	2. the Point of Departure

_Hey folks, I really should have posted this along with the prologue but..ahh well, figured you guys should at least the strange intro before I actually get into the meat of the story. I don't own any of the characters that you see here, except for one character. Kane is not mine, he is owned by Alith Anar. Took awhile to get Kane's personality do...oh what am I saying? Kane is basically the default Boss of SR3, though with a different look. Anyways, Thanks Alith! I will hopefully not pick on your own character too badly._

**1\. The Point of Departure**

by: DahkPanda

A simple transaction at a bank gone completely wrong. Go figure.

It was the air pressure that was giving him one hell of a headache. Sure, it could have been the bank robbery gone wrong, and the fact that his Saints were now taken by a bunch of nimrods that were obviously a part of a gang outside of Stilwater. Really, it only took the fact that all of them were all carrying the color red to verify that.

Save for the twins in front of them. They could be wearing red, but to be honest he couldn't remember...it didn't help when one of the two kept shifting from toe-to-toe, which made their butt shift in that tight skirt they were wearing. Yeah, coherent thoughts went bye-bye. Whoever these girls were, they were natural in those areas. It made the strippers look like Peggy, Will's first ho back when Kane was just starting out in the Saints.

Still, he was now the boss, the head of the Saints, running the entire Saint/Ultor foundation, worth billions of dollars. If people even saw him drooling like an idiot to a woman's ass, he'd never hear the end of it.

It was about that time that the very twin that was shifting around finally turned towards the man. Normally, he would move a hand to slick his hair back...but that was tied behind the chair he sat in. His suit ruffled and even had a few cuts across his jacket...and it was dirty beyond repair. So really he couldn't be as suave as he would normally be during a situation like this. So, instead…

"Hey, five hundred bucks for a lap dance, girl..." Kane stated aloud, grinning from ear to ear. Normally he wouldn't do that, but to be honest, he was actually trying to get a rise out of the girl. Why? Because angry girls were cute, Shaundi was very much included on that list.

The girl glared at him, but didn't make a move. "Ahhh…C'mon...Thousand? Two Thousand? I mean, you got the body to make a guy cream his pants, girl, just jiggle that ass of yours and you're a millionaire overnight…"

Okay, Kane made himself look like an idiot, though he was doing that on purpose, let these assholes think he's on the same level as a horny Josh Birk, or some two-bit gangsta who randomly got a fortune. Plus, it was a good way to see the limits of these two girls, who were ranked pretty high in this group. If they start acting up, it means the boss should be an easy guy to take down.

"...or do you whore yourself out? I mean, damn girl, if you have a good ass, and those tits look good, might mean you have a damn good..."

...they didn't move, and Kane finally closed his mouth. Damn, he was kind of hoping they were easier to piss off. Time to cut at least the sexual part of the bravado.

Johnny Gat laughed though, though more towards the fact that he knew what Kane was doing, and the girl's didn't budge than by his words anyway. Of all the people that would figure out what Kane did, it would be Johnny. The term 'Bromance' would fit with them, along with 'the Psychotic Duo'. They been around each other enough to where they thought alike...With the only difference would be Kane would have said something then shot somebody...Johnny shoots the room then makes his quote.

Shaundi scoffed herself, not quite getting what Kane was doing, but she probably figured that he was trying to provoke something. Still, it didn't work, and now Kane had to figure out something else to do until hopefully whoever had them tied to a bunch of chairs was finally going to come out...

He soon shifted too and fro from his chair and growled. "Where's my fucking shades man!?" He stated and glared at the twins. "Seriously man…those were six-hundred dollar shades!.." ...that were stolen, but anyway. "At least let me have them before you start telling us what you want…"

It was then the chair that was in front of the three suddenly twisted around, revealing an older man. In way, it reminded Kane of the Emperor swiveling around to meet the Jedi, only instead of wearing robes, he was wearing a suit with a red scarf over it. He looked like a Don of a Mafia...which maybe close to what this group might be…

Kane wasn't all that impressed. "Seriously, do you have any idea who the fuck you're dealing with!?"

"Of course..." This old man stated. His voice had a very thick accent that Kane could not figure out for the life of him where it came from. As Kane stared at the older gentleman, one of the Twins dropped a Gat bobble head on the table that was next to him.

Johnny snorted lightly, and Kane forced himself not to smirk. If Johnny hated anything, it was those damn bobble heads.

Though this old man didn't do it to piss Johnny off, he flicked the bobble head anyway before turning towards the three prisoners. "A remarkable likeness..."

There was a subtle shift of his head, and he spread his arms out towards one of the Twins. "These visions are Viola and Kiki. And I am Phillipe Loren, chairman of a multinational organization called the Syndicate."

The hell was that accent? Kane thought.

It was Shaundi, who finally spoke for the first time since the prison. "…Never heard of it." She stated. If anybody knew anything about these guys, it was her.

Loren merely puffed on the cigar he was smoking before looking towards Shaundi. "Evidentially not, or you would have not robbed our bank. Perhaps you are wondering why you are still breathing at this point?"

Johnny frowned lightly. "Actually, I wonder why my foot's not up your ass at this point."

It was the way that Loren ignored Johnny's threat that really started to piss Kane off. Johnny was a man to really be feared, and you blow it off like smoke? Loren stood up by now, still holding onto his cigarette so delicately, like a petunia. Somehow that removed any scariness from this graying old man. "Like it or not, Mr. Gat, our organization is expanding into Stilwater. I am offering you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives. Ladies?" He states, stepping away from the prisoner's eye view. .

The screen behind the twins suddenly was brought to life, revealing a pie-chart. The vast majority of it read Syndicate, while a tiny sliver, the type that some asshole uncle would give to you when you wanted a bigger slice, read the Saints. This reminded the Boss of Maero's conversation with...he shook his head before looking to Viola, or at least that's what the boss thought it was, as she started to talk. "You may continue to operate the Saints/Ultor media group as you see fit, in exchange for 66% of your monthly gross revenue."

Kiki piped in to finish that sentence. "That is before taxes, of course."

Kane growled lightly, last thing he needed was another big organization breathing down his neck. "Listen you French fuck..." He started. Loren was French, that's where the accent came from...

Loren scoffed as he stepped into view again. "Please! I am Belgian."

Kane frowned. Okay, so he was close...

Johnny didn't seem to care really, "So make yourself a fuckin' waffle. We're done here."

There was a shift in the air, and Kane knew well enough by their own business that unless something could be done now, they were going to be shot. It was Loren's eyes, they shifted from a businessman, to a professional killer. Seems he wasn't just a regular businessman. _And I hadn't even gotten close to getting out of this chair. Shit_. "And I had so hoped to come to a rational business arrangement." Loren stated softly, once more stepping away from the group as one of his henchmen came into view, aiming a rather large 45 Shepard to Johnny's forehead.

It was like Johnny suddenly became a superhero...or a Tank. In one swift moment, the man pulled the chair off his hinges, and somehow got himself loose as well, taking down the henchman with one fell movement. A punch later, the henchman was down, and Johnny turned towards Loren, only to get stabbed.

Kane would have placed his head into his hand. Only because he basically imagined himself doing the same thing, lacking the stabbing of course. He must have been really losing his touch if Johnny can get out like Superman while he could barely move the chair. Still, he felt like Johnny could have done all that without the stabbing. It's becoming a habit.

Johnny then proceeded use Loren's face like a battering ram, smashing it into the airplane window and somehow shattering it. The way Loren screamed, Kane could only guess that eye was gone. He'll find out later if the guy has an eye patch in the future.

Soon, Kane and Shaundi were loose, and Johnny almost ordered him to jump out the back.

As Kane managed to say something to "Not without you" six guys suddenly ran in, guns a blazing. It took a bit much for Johnny to push them out the door, though soon Kane found himself heading towards the back of the plane, finding a Shepard off of a guy he just beat to death.

Kane can really remember his mind finally kicking back in when he found the object of his desires. He eyed them, grinning from ear to ear, and pulled off his six-hundred dollar (stolen) shades over his eyes, from the corpse he just took out. "Good times..." He stated, and snapped a round from his 45 Shepard into the eye of another Syndicate goon.

As he reached the back, he was still contemplating why the hell did Shaundi not get a chute of her own, since there were plenty in the back, though to be honest he was more or less thinking why he didn't just pick up another 45 Shepard (Then he would have two pistols!). But what happened next made him forget about all of that...

"Johnny, we're ready to jump!" Shaundi stated into the com.

After a quick buzz and the sound of grunts and gunfire, Johnny's voice finally came in. "All right, I'll see you in Stil..."

The fire of SMG sounded, and the com-link went dead.

...

...

...

The Silence was deafening. The wind was almost mute even to the two. Kane's eyes shifted towards the cockpit, while Shaundi stared at the com still.

It was Shaundi who finally broke the silence. "...Johnny?" She managed. Kane could hear the voice break a little.

Before the two even had a thought between themselves, they looked at each other and turned towards the cockpit.

The airplane suddenly shifted violently, so sudden and just enough that both tumbled. A second shake soon sent them flying backwards. Kane found himself tumbling violently down the ramp, and luckily managed to take old of the edge. As Shaundi soon fell from the ramp, Kane was able to catch her by the wrist…only for a damn car to nearly bounce off his face for him to let go as well.

One very long drop from a plane...and...one trip 'through' a plane later, Kane and Shaundi were on the ground, penniless, inside a stolen car, and talking about various guns they could pick up...including an armory which sounded too good to be true. Manpower was the only other issue but considering how many Saints are currently in Stilwater, they just needed to get a hold of Pierce and suddenly they'll have enough muscle for this city. Granted, how many Saints will take him seriously in this new war that he didn't start.

_Might be the only reason why my record is often ignored, I don't shoot enough people..._ Kane managed to think. A small joke for him to chuckle at, but today he just lost the man that was his brother in arms. To be honest, the only person that was closer to Johnny than him was...

...His mind erased that though in a moment. Anything but that psychotic. In only a few weeks she burnt down half of Stilwater and left a large enough bloody stain on the reputation of the Saints that it still haunts them to this day. Reporters constantly try to ask him about why Shivington ended up becoming a smear of burnt ashes, to which he could never answer. No, it will never be her again. Last thing he needed was turning Steelport into a crater, not when he had his own plans anyway.

Fate though, had other ideas. Shaundi had texted Pierce about bringing helicopters and the manpower...but then texted one more thing to one more person. A person she knew well enough. To be honest though Kane never truly knew that Shaundi had knowledge of the woman's whereabouts, only she did have knowledge of where she could get in contact with her.

She opened her phone, and moved down to a particular number she often uses...

To: Troy Bradshaw

From: Shaundi

Johnny is Dead.

Sent

* * *

Troy Bradshaw woke with a start upon hearing the buzzing of his cell..the one the Saints gave them once they became 'celebrities'. He gave his wife a small smile and stroked her shoulder as she mumbled awake, settling her once more and whispering her to go back to sleep. As soon as he slipped out of bed, he let out a cough as he picked up the phone, expecting yet another 'incident' that will probably require him to pull some strings…again.

He seriously started to wonder if he was a cop or a gangsta with control over the cops. Maybe he should finally stand his ground and just tell Kane to fuck off...but then again he did have a soft spot for his Lieutenants...reminiscent of the old days, in truth.

The fact that the text was from Shaundi woke him a bit more. She was probably the kindest of the four, with Kane just demanding a response and Pierce...well...he could never understand Pierce's texts. Johnny never spoke to him, though Troy understood why.

He smiled as he slowly sat up, opening the text…but the words made him stop.

Johnny is Dead.

The hot summer night in Stilwater suddenly grew cold, and Troy himself had to let out a very slow breath, perhaps the last one he remembered for the next few moments. He didn't remember why his eyes drew tears, though he never truly let them go.

They weren't in talking terms anymore, though Troy held heavy respect for the psycho named Johnny. He made sure all the punks in jail, prisoners and guards alike, never touched the man named Johnny Gat. He was stabbed once by Johnny, but honestly he knew it was coming...the blade didn't hit anything vital either, and after some dozen stitches, he was back out ordering other cops around.

Though they weren't in talking terms, he made sure that Johnny was always welcome at his doorstep. Johnny never came by. So the silent feud between the two continued, though nothing came from it. It did give Troy the chance to meet all of the Saints, including Pierce and Shaundi, and he was there during the funerals...including Aisha...

He was forced to sit in his police car, but he was there, mourning her just like the rest. Johnny still never spoke to him, though it seemed the feud ended after her death.

He slowly slipped out of bed, making sure the older dark skinned beauty continued to rest while he snuck out of the bedroom. He gathered his bathrobe to cover the wifebeater he wore along with his purple boxers (A color Planet Saints loved to sell). And slowly dialed a number, one that he remembered too well.

This was not going to end well...not at all.

* * *

"Why in Stilwater?"

Two bikers were too busy playing cards that they almost missed the question. The warehouse was openly lit. Some of the men were currently partying in the corner with a few dancers while others were polishing their bikes...or guns depending upon what was more important. One of the gents that heard the question finally looked up, rubbing his shaved head and smirked, letting his lips suddenly hide under the thick bush of his mustache. "Hey, the Mercs that we were selling to asked for this place, so why not go to one of the shiftiest places in the US?"

The boy just shook his head. He was a Prospect in this little biker gang, not even carrying the Logo the gang wore: A tribal skull over a circle of thirteen stars. Though this wasn't exactly a true outlaw biker gang, instead it worked like a regular gang that you might see on the streets of Stilwater.

Considering the technology that the 13 Masks sold, this gang was anything but regular.

Their clothes were expensive, but damn if they weren't worth their weight in cash. They were a little heavier than most jackets, but considering that they can protect them against most projectiles, the boys didn't mind the weight. Their boss trained them a bit so they can get stronger and adjust to the weight as well. Even use weapons that most punks on the streets wouldn't know about. By the time their boss was done, these men were far more elite than that damn Masako group they heard so much about.

Add to the fact that they are their own private military and get weapons and armor that make them feel like they're in Robocops world, plus free booze and dancers, and this became the gang to be a part of..

The boy just frowned a bit and waved to the two. "But last I heard, our boss wasn't suppost to lay a foot in Stilwater anymore, not with the Saints contro..."

The bald man just held up a hand. "Don't continue that sentence, boy..." He states and set his cards down. "Saints don't care enough to focus on the streets. Small groups get even less attention. Hence why our last deal there were only eight of us there...The Saints don't care, their boss doesn't care, so we don't care. We get money under their noses."

The Boy nodded softly, though then bit his tongue.

The second card player just grinned, a dark skinned fellow. He was facing away from the boy, though he must have noticed the awkward pause. "C'mon boy, ask what's on your mind or I'll just get back to kickin' this guy's ass...Seriously, you never played Go Fish before?"

The bald man glared at the dark-skinned man, though then the boy asked. "...You guys were Saints, right?"

The room went quiet, though there really was not rage or hatred amongst the members, the bald man picked up his cards and sighed. "I wasn't...but the majority of the boys you see here were, followed the boss out the door."

The boy nodded. "So it was true, our boss was a higher up amongst the Sai..."

There was an explosion in the upstairs office room, the room their leader used as her personal 'office' until they reached their own headquarters. It wasn't a weaponized explosion, it sounded more like somebody just threw a desk across a room. With their leader, it could have been any version of explosion really. Still, the noise raised eyebrows, and the bald-headed man nodded to the others to stay down stairs.

Carefully, he moved up the stairs, with the entirety of the gang that were in the room watching his every movement. Some had their weapons drawn and waited for the next few moments. The sounds of crashing continued for another few moments, and the bald man pulled out his gun as he slowly stepped up the stairs. As he reached the top, he didn't open the door, instead, he moved to press his back against the wall next to it. As he reached for the door, he looked over to the rest of the crew, who all had guns aimed at the door, just in case some ninja pops out or something of that caliber.

The man licked his lips and managed to ask. "...Boss?"

Silence. Though there was a huff on the other side, but for the next minute, it was silent. The bald-headed man slowly opened the door, and very carefully peeked in...

When people say a hurricane hit this room, normally they say it when papers were thrown around, sounding more like heavy wind than a hurricane. This looked like a hurricane. What once was a very neat and tidy room with desks and cabinets standing against walls and such were now tossed everywhere. Some of the heavier cabinets were upside down and many of the tables were flipped in all awkward ways. The place looked like a true mess.

There, sitting under a window sill, was their boss. Her hands covering her face as she was bent down. There were no sniffles, but even the bald-headed man could tell...she was crying. Their boss, the queen militaristic bitch, was crying. This made him place his gun into its holster, which in turn calmed the entire gang downstairs. He stepped in fully, moving a hand against his orange mustache before leaning down. "...Boss...?"

The woman was quiet still, just letting in shallow breaths. The man looked around for a few moments before looking down at a completely destroyed phone, the most damaged item in the entire room.

The woman then spoke, startling the bald man. "...Jimmy, my helmet..." She states, and holds out her hand to him. Jimmy then noticed the small trail of blood moving down her other arm, perhaps cut due to one of the cabinets she just threw moments before. He opened his mouth to acknowledge it, though she interrupted him. "...The helmet please. You can bandage me up along the way..."

Jimmy frowned softly. "What do you mean, along the way?" he started though complied and moved around the room, finally catching a glimpse of the helmet and gathering it for her. He held it out to her outstretched hand, and she took a hold of it before placing it over her head. Amazing how little of her face he saw, but again, he knew she was crying.

She didn't answer him, not right away. Instead she slid from her sitting position on the ground to standing fully upright. With the helmet completely covering her face, she stepped out onto the loft that made up the second story of the building, looking down at the entirety of the gang. "Boys, looks like we're heading for Steelport..."

That earned a lot of questioning looks, the majority turned to one another. Jimmy himself looked perplex. "The Syndicate? I thought we were going to ignore them? They outnumber us, bos..."

"Johnny Gat is dead..." She states, it was said simply, softly, though the entire room heard it. They fell silent as they knew the implication of this news, even Jimmy, who was never a Saint, understood this. "Pack up my bike in the second truck. Take all the supplies you can stuff into the other trucks as well. Keep your armor on and stay frosty until I give the command to topple the entire city over..." She states before turning to the man behind her. "Jimmy, I want you to find a place just outside the city to hide our stash until we can find a suitable place to store all of our equipment. Try not to get any attention to yourself in the meantime..."

Jimmy frowned softly, but he nodded. "If what I'm thinking is true, and Johnny got himself killed by the Syndicate, you realize how easily outnumbered we are..."

The woman didn't turn her head towards him, instead she stated simply. "The Saints will be there, if I know their boss well enough..." She states simply before stepping down the stairs. "Gunther, I need you to drive Truck one. Billy, Sam, take the back while I take shotgun..."

* * *

The cigarette smoke flew softly out of Phillipe's nostrils, his head bent to the side as Viola brushed some make up on his cheek. Really, he felt embarrassed that he had one of the DeWynters applying something like make-up upon himself, but when you have one of the largest purple bruises that took up nearly the entire left side of your face, and if you were the leader of one of the biggest multinational organizations, you'd place make-up on your face too.

He would heal, and his scientists would clone him a new eye to replace his old one, for now he will be forced to cover it up. The talk with Killbane and Matt Millar gave him the control he needed to keep the Saints from gaining a foothold in this city.

Oddly enough, he wished he had gotten a hold of these two prior to arriving in Steelport. Matt Millar was by far one of the best assets he has gained in the last ten years, with there being only two other Hackers that were either equal or better than Millar himself. Aiden Pearce was his number one man, though the fool had a vendetta, which was not profitable. Kinzie Kensington was another that was on his list, though she was only one little girl while Matt had himself a rather sizable gang.

Granted, he would have to tolerate the little boy stuttering every time he saw him, but his talents were worth that cost. Still, to keep Matt from suddenly going berserk, Phillipe left someone in his gang...Lili, a Japanese girl who joined the gang as one of their specialists. Really, all it took was Lili flashing enough skin and the entire gang was under Phillipes control.

Killbane on the other hand, was the most powerful thug he had ever met. He has seen Killbane several times and noted that Killbane has only taken a very seldom amount of Steroids, making this man nothing more than beast as most of that physic was natural. Still, Killbane was a rabid dog, one that needed to be on a constant tight leash.

That leash was named Máximo Montés, Killbane's right hand man. Unlike Killbane, Montés was an addict to steroids, though somewhat of a genius in using it. The man could make his own cocktail filled with the right concoction of the drugs to make him massive, though nothing compared to Killbane. Still, it gave Phillipe the edge, handing over enough money for said drugs and thus earning Montés' loyalty. Killbane has been kept under control ever since, what with a wingman telling him if that was a good idea or not.

He sighed lightly as he placed his cigarette in his mouth. These two new gangs were strong, and really if it weren't for money, the two would be rampaging across Steelport if they wanted. Control was a necessity, and control was what he wanted for the Saints. Get a foothold with the Saints meant getting a hold of Ultor, and thus even greater power for the Syndicate. How was he to know the wall that was the Saints was so uncontrolled? Like a raging bear scampering through a village. And now that bear was in Steelport, and though he had plenty of weapons to deal with the Saints, he needed to make sure that everything was truly under control.

Kiki suddenly stepped into the room with a cell in her hand. "...Mr. Loren, sir. Marko is on the phone..."

...speaking of uncontrolled...

Loren sighed as he gathered the cellphone, placing it to the ear that wasn't bruised. "This is not the time, Marko..."

The voice on the other side was friendly enough, "Well hey pops, I hear ya lost an eye just a few hours ago. The hell happened?"

Loren grumbled, last thing he wanted to hear was the voice of his very crass son. "Nothing that won't be dealt with. The main damage has been repaired and now my people are on the hunt..."

There was a long pause. "...Kiki said it was the Saints, right? The hell are you doing over there, hunting them with elephant guns?" Another pause, though there was a snicker on the other side. "Oh, this I gotta see..."

That made Loren flinch. "Marko, you have your own city to control, you stay in Liberty City, the two gangs in Steelport shall handle this mess alone..."

"You have too much confidence in them, Pops." Marko stated flatly. "And really, Liberty City is as controlled and well oiled as it's gonna get. If it weren't for last months gross revenue from my city, you wouldn't be having any more of those damned 'big brute' idiots you like making. Besides, I'm already on a plane..."

Loren suddenly jumped out of his chair, smearing a bit of the make-up that Viola had just brushed on. "You what!?"

"Hey, you heard me pops, I'm heading to Steelport right now, my subordinates in Liberty City already know what they're doing and don't need me there for the time being. Besides, you're going against the Saints! Sounds like fun, pops..." Loren could hear the grin running across Marko's face. "Besides, I think you'll need one pair of extra hands on this case. Ta-tah!"

The phone clicked before Loren could utter another word. For a moment, Loren just pulled the phone from his ear to look at it, then sighed and held it so Kiki could grab it from him. "...Tell the maids to clean up the extra room on floor sixty seven, it seems my son is coming to visit.

Loren sat back down and rubbed his head as Kiki walked off...completely missing Viola's light smile upon hearing that. The Rabid dog on one side, a silly little boy on the other, and now his psychotic son coming in to try and handle this rampaging bear on the streets of Steelport.

No words could express his thoughts beyond...awww crap...

...

Hopefully you folks enjoy the story, please R/R and let me know if I need to edit anything!


	3. Blasts from the Past

Hopefully I don't have to keep adding these to the chapters but: Don't own anything but one character, Alith anar owns Kane. And there we go.

**2\. Blasts from the Past**

by: DahkWaltz

* * *

Kane's memory wasn't exactly full clarity, what with the drugs, the fun and the rock n' roll, but he could remember a number of things over the years. The majority were memories of things that could be considered hilarious by the Saints standards, stuff like when Shaundi booty-bumped Pierce down a building onto the stunt-air-mattress below, or the time Johnny lit an Irish boy's ass on fire for getting into a brawl with several Saints.

Then there were memories that he wished he couldn't remember, let the drugs, alcohol, fun and rock n' roll take it away. The moment he found out what Shaundi did with her phone, he wasn't thrilled, none at all. It wasn't Troy that he was worried about, the current Stilwater Chief of Police was still one of the few that would be invited to any of the Saints parties freely. He barely talked to the guy anymore but he could still call him friends...somewhat.

Nope, it doesn't take a genius to figure out who Troy still had connections with. A heavy duty arms dealer, a local psychotic and the little shit who burnt half the town of Stilwater the last time she was there.

Painted Face...

* * *

_The smoke that wavered straight up easily indicated where that woman was in the University District. Just to the North of the district, before the drive-in theater and the bridge on the northeastern part of Stilwater, there was a gas station. Was would be the best term for it, as the entire store was destroyed. A green stiletto was embedded into the actual store, the tail end of the car sticking high into the air with two Samedi bodies hanging from it. The store owners were gone, at least Kane thought they were, but bodies of many Samedi and a few Saints were all around the gas station. The pumps themselves were pretty much blown up, with fire escaping the tanks and splotches of fire everywhere._

"_Hey Boss, what's up?" He heard her say this before he saw her...it had been so long since he saw 'that woman' that he couldn't remember her face. Oh sure, he knew what she looked like, yet his memory, the damn fisherman's floppy hat that she wore shaded her face in completely somehow. She tilted her head and took a very heavy swig of the beer she was holding in her hand. _

_She was sitting on two Samedi bodies, wearing that fucking black and white striped tank-top she loved to wear, showing off the tattoos that flow down her arms. She always wore pants that seemed too big for her with a belt holding them up, and a silver chain hanging off the left side. The Saints surrounding the area saluted Kane as he stepped up to 'that woman'. He sighed lightly as he looked around at the mess. "You know, you were here to take out a few lieutenants, you really know how to make a fucking mess..."_

_Though her face was a blur, he remembered her grinning. "Eh, it's what I do..." She uttered and slowly sipped her bear. "So what brings you here, beyond remarking on my mess?"_

_Kane shrugged lightly. "Just making sure you're okay...you jumped the gun when it came to the Brotherhood..."_

_That woman returned the question with a shrug. "We were going to fight them regardless, boyo. Just so happens that Maero's mouth pissed me off..."_

_Kane growled and held out a finger, pointing at her. "Hey, we will start the fight when I say we fight. I declared war on the Ronin already, and you are suppose to be focusing on the Samedi." He crossed his arms. "The Saints are coming back, and we're growing, but not fast enough to fight all three at the same time!"_

_The woman stood up and chuckled a bit. "Well, ain't you the big, bad boss?" She stated and moved up to him, tossing the empty beer bottle aside. "These fucks think they're very well organized, but they'll be easy to fuck up.." she states, and with her hands, straightens up Kane's jacket. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing..." _

_He remembers her grinning then, then walking off. He let out a small sigh and rubbed his head. "Fuck...I get the feelin' we're in a lot more trouble than it's worth..."_

* * *

"The Fuck you say!?" Kane managed to say...trying his best not to scream out loud and try to wake up the landlady just downstairs…like they did twenty minutes ago when a group of ten Saints were trying to get several crates up the flight of stairs, and pretending that it wasn't a crate full of guns despite the pictures on the sides.

The Armory Raid had been quite the success, and soon they had enough weapons to at least do a few raids here and there, though they'll need to get bigger guns later. Still, the UVA Drone controls were a new weapon they could easily use…or was it UAV Drone controls? He couldn't remember, but it exploded Tanks pretty damn well, so it was well worth it.

He tried to set Shaundi back to Stilwater, and Pierce made an attempt to help him, but Shaundi's mind was set, and within a few moments, it was agreed the three stick around to take out the Syndicate.

...It was then that Shaundi's cell rang, and she just received a text message from Troy...That woman was coming to Steelport.

It was troubling news, to say the least. He didn't need that Wildcard in Steelport, not when he needed to focus on Loren. Last thing he needed was a psychotic biker chick coming in and blowing up have the city.

...Like she did back in Stilwater.

"What? You were expecting it to be just us?" Shaundi stated, glaring at the Boss. "...Look, I want the entire Syndicate burnt to the ground, and I know that in order to do that, we need muscle..." She states softly.

"Yeah, but…why her!? She's crazy!" Kane managed, running his fingers through his hair. "I mean, c'mon, that's not cool!"

Shaundi just frowned. "...Look at us, Boss...Pierce and I have become television celebrities, and you've gone soft..."

"Johnny was right...we traded our dicks in for pussies...we aren't the powerhouses we were before...The Saints need to get back to our roots, and we need some psychotic motherfucker like Painted Face to help us out!" She stated, moving over to sit on a couch, making sure the gun was ready and able.

Kane frowned and shook his head. "Fuck this...I'm gonna go find a bar, get my ass drunk...and hope that damn bar will still be around when we're through with the Syndicate..."

He gave Shaundi a look, waving his hand lightly like "I'll get back to you, bitch' before he walked out of the apartment. A quick carjack later, he was off, already heading across a bridge and towards a pub, tavern...anything that had a fucking bar, and forget some of the more...memorable moments in his life...

* * *

The much further Past

* * *

"_Fuck yeah!" Johnny Gat hollered, looking completely pumped and ready to just kill anything really. His eyes turned towards a single guy, wearing a pair of beat up jeans, a black shirt, and tennis shoes. If anybody was truly a regular guy, it would have been Kane at that time. Picked up by Julius randomly on the streets of the Row, he really was asked to join the Saints because they needed more manpower. Kane wasn't exactly the biggest guy, but he was muscle. Maybe Julius saw something in the guy at the time. Granted, it was obvious that Johnny didn't at the time._

"_Who the fuck's this guy?"_

_Julius nodded to Kane, who merely nodded back. "Troy and I found him, I was gonna see if he'd ride with us..."_

_It seemed that Johnny wasn't convinced, though to be honest Kane later found out that Johnny was just setting up for the initiation...he didn't really care who joined either way. "Julius, if he wants to run with the Saints, he's gotta be canonized."_

_Before Julius could respond, Troy, who was standing right next to him, shook his head. "He's right, Julius. Everyone had to do it."_

_Julius looked to Kane and waved a finger to him. "You ready for this, playa?"_

_Kane's only response was to crack his neck, then smirks as he raises his fists._

_The next few minutes seemed like an eternity. He was a fury of punches, taking out several of the other Saints that were coming at him. Few were able to block him, and he found himself tossing all to the side. The few moments had passed, and his knuckles were bloody. He did get a few shots to the jaw, and when it was over, he silently spat out some blood...hitting another guys shoe and making that Saint curse._

_Still, the moment he finished, the Saints went quiet...they actually hadn't expected him to throw down so fiercely, and so quickly. _

_The moment soon passed. Troy walked up with probably the biggest grin he's ever had. "You earned your colors today." He states, moving up to take Kane's hand and giving him a pat on the shoulder, the 'hug' that Kane got so used to doing._

_The next Lieutenant stepped up to him, patting him on the shoulder and grinning. "That's some impressive shit; the only other Saint who kicked ass like that was Johnny."_

_Dex pointed him over to the little asian guy with quite possibly the most ridiculous hairstyle. Johnny waved his hands out and grinned. "Shit, took me half the time."_

_Kane just smirked softly to that response, though as Johnny finished...he noticed there was another person that stood out from the 'regular' Saints. Behind Johnny was a girl, leaning against the tree. She had a small purple top that left her breasts covered, though her stomach completely exposed. She had a black trenchcoat on and a pair of jeans that looked as if they were about to fall right off it it weren't for the belt she was wearing. She had a baseball hat on that covered much of her face...still, he could see her lips, which were in a smirk._

_Just before he could even nod to the gal, Julius got a hold of his attention once more. "Welcome to the Third Street Saints. Let's get down to business..."_

* * *

Six beers later, Kane was nearly trying to drown himself in his own drink. Not really bcause of the memory, but because the bartender had the gale to inform him on what 'Feels Boss' means...

...He wish he could drink that memory away, but to his dismay, the visual kept coming to mind. Despite the horrible information, he remembered the good ol' days, back when Gat was just a short little Asian boy with a mouth, Dex was still cool with the Saints and Julius...wasn't an asshole really.

...and...Lin...

He waved for another beer. Of all the people he did miss...it was Lin. Sure, she only knew him for several months, but damn, those were the best few months he had. Nothing like having a woman who could join him at a bar and kick as much ass as he could. Fuck, he knew that Pierce often got rid of the articles that spoke about Lin. Sure, he could make jokes about Zombie Lin all the time...but...the real thing?

He downed half the contents of his beer and slammed it onto the table. Lin, Carlos, and now Johnny. Carlos' death was like a little version of him that died...it changed the dynamic of how he ran the gang afterwards. He was sorely protective of the other two because of that. But to lose Lin and Johnny...

There was always a different feeling to the Saints compared to the others...A rough little family that was chaotic, but when push came to shove, they banded together and took out the focus of there anger. Today it was Phillipe, tomorrow…who knows? But, because of the feel of the family...

Lin was close, and her death broke something in him that he really could never recover...

Dex betrayed the gang, 'moved on up' and tried to destroy the gang personally...to Kane, Dex was dead.

And now Johnny...Troy was the only man left alive during that time, but he's no longer a Saint even if he remains friends to the gang to this day...

But that's where Kane was going...the old gang is fully dead...except himself... All his brothers and his sister died, and he was the last.

He placed his thumb and pointer finger to the bridge of his nose and sighed lightly...

What saved him from his memories was the phone ringing. He begrudgingly lifted the phone, hoping that it was anybody but Shaundi...

It wasn't, it was Pierce. He answered it and settled, rubbing his nose and sniffing, making some noise and probably sounded like the sob junk to the rest of the bar. "How's the crew settling in?" He stated, wanting to really just change the subject in his mind.

"Man, we gotta get a new place. That studio shit ain't workin at all." He could hear Pierce from the other end. If anything, he could picture the entire gang in that little apartment with Pierce stuck in the middle. The only way you could find Pierce was that damn white suit.

The thought put a smile to his lips, and Kane returned with. "Awww, spent too much time in posh hotels?"

Years ago, Pierce would have been angered by any teasing little comment. Now though? "I can't help it if the rest of the world treats the Saints right."

"Doesn't mean we should get soft," Kane muttered in response, slowly standing up. It was then he felt a draft across his shoulder, and he looked over to it. Damn, he forgot that he was still wearing the suit from the plane. Holes were everywhere, and he looked like he was dragged along the ground behind a dirt bike. _Damn, I look like shit..._ Kane thought, but didn't say out loud.

"I hear ya," Pierce responded. "Listen, how about you and me roll around the city and see what Steelport has to offer?"

Which meant that he might be able to get new clothes...hell yes...

"You convinced me, Meet me at the..." He looked at his GPS. "...Park, I'll pick you up."

He soon jumped into his 'stolen' raycaster, and was off in a flash, heading directly to where the park was.

"Shaudi's taking this thing with Gat pretty hard."

Kane just looked to him for a moment. Pierce was getting better at not digging the spoon into a man's back with his commentary these days. The Saints Flow pop icon should get into politics at this rate. "We all are."

Pierce just settled back. "I know, but you're always pissed off. Our girl's not as crazy as you."

Which was true. Shaundi being pissed off was because of Josh Burk, and *then* it was Johnny. Kane figured that it was because of Johnny, Shaundi snapped a little inside.

Hell, he understood snapping. Lin was his.

Still, Kane gave Pierce a smile and nodded to him. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her..."

Pierce nodded back and looked out the window quietly. A moment of silence he asked. "How long were you rolling with Gat, anyway?"

Kane looked at him oddly. Though then his eyes went back to the road. That's right, Pierce actually doesn't know about the first group of Saints. He knew that Johnny, and later Dex and Troy were all in the Saints at one period of time. Kane just smirked to Pierce. "Long time. He was there when I first joined the Saints."

"Shit, what was he like back then?"

"He mellowed with age...until Aisha died, then he was fucking pissed."

There was a pause in the conversation...until Pierce turned to him. "...What about...her?" Pierce didn't need to elaborate, Kane knew that he was asking about 'that woman'. "Didn't she join the saints a little befo..."

"...Rather not talk about that...not yet anyway..." Kane was forgetting the past few hours by force, he didn't really want to remember that the crazy little fuck was coming here.

Pierce looked over, and was about to say something, but then the car turned towards Rimjobs. And the conversation was forgotten.

Pierce eyed the car and grinned from ear to ear. "Car's got some more style, now it's our turn. Head to Planet Saints."

Kane looked at him oddly. "I dunno man, That's like wearing the band's t-shirt to the concert."

Pierce, still grinning, held up his hands lightly. "Nothing wrong with wanting to look good!"

Kane waved him off, his own smug grin forming. "I always look good." But he knew better, he needed a new suit anyway.

Pierce just shrugged himself. Kane knew that Pierce was trying to settle him down, and to be honest? Getting a new suit would actually help with that. He needed it badly.

After a quick moment of silence, Pierce moved his hand over to the radio. "We need some drivn' music."

"See if you can find something good." Kane stated simply, focusing on the road now.

Pierce changed the radio until it hit Sublime's "What I got" the man grinned. "Ooooh yeah...oh shit..."

Kane grinned, he loved this song. "Turn it up..."

It was a few moments later, the two started to sing like idiots to the song. During the song, Kane suddenly realized that the pain he was feeling barely a half hour ago was now gone. Fucking Pierce, he can make anybody relax by being himself.

He should settle down on his teasing of Pierce...eventually...

Either way, it settled him down fully now. He even finally forgot Shaundi's conversation about that woman...

...though unfortunately he was reminded not too long later...

A new suit later, Kane was now happy as a pig in mud. Now wearing a suit coat, pants, with a purple vest and a white shirt underneath; the very moment he got that suit on, he was dancing around like an idiot in front of the mirror. Thankfully Pierce was too occupied with buying the same damn suit that he was wearing now. What's with Pierce and wearing white? He wasn't like that one rapper...damn…he was going to have a meeting with that Rapper, he should get Paul and reset the meeting...

Soon though, Pierce stepped back in. "Time to go..." He grins, grabbing the bag of cloths that he got himself. Just as he stepped out the door…it sounded like a truck hit the ground. Though there wasn't anything chaotic outside that would make a car fly through the air. Instead, there was a Syndicate truck in front of the store...

And one of the biggest, burliest fucking things just walked around the truck, glaring at Kane and Pierce.

"...What the Fuck is that thing!?" Pierce stated...and dropped his bag.

The giant man suddenly ran towards them…his shoulder hit the truck that he was next to…and the truck decided to flip over. At least that's what Kane 'wanted' it to be.

"...Something very pissed off..." Kane managed, and suddenly jumped out of the way from the giant guy who rammed into the store, taking it out pretty quick. Moments later the Giant was back out. Kane found himself running...around another Syndicate car, to which the giant merely flipped the car, killing the occupants.

"This guy means business!" Pierce yelled out from behind another car.

"You think!?" Kane cried out, pulling out his pistol. "He flipped a fucking car!"

"He on steroids or something?" Pierce finished, pulling out his own pistols

Kane fired at the top of the Giant's head, and to his surprise, the giant man did **not** fall over. In fact he took the bullet and kept on going like it didn't phase him. "...I'd go with 'or something!' "

Kane found himself running around yet another Syndicate car, completely missing what it was as he continued to fire away at the Giant. He soon found himself running out of bullets. And he turned to run. Just as his gun was reloaded...a tree-trunk of a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, and soon Kane was floating in mid air, with the hand keeping him hanging there. Kane looked right at the giant, whose fist was reared back, ready to punch him.

"Fuck no, not the suit! Don't hit the suit!" Kane cried out. Dammit, he just got this suit.

The punch might as well felt like the time he got hit by a car, it sent him flying. He floated for several moments before he crashed upon a random parked car on the side of the road. Despite the earlier comment, he reached up, stroking his glasses. "My glasses okay?" He stated in a groan, his chest felt like he was stuck in a vice. He looked up to see that the Giant suddenly picked up a Syndicate person...and threw him towards Kane. Kane let out a 'shit' before rolling off the car, dropping behind it….only for the Syndicate body hitting the car hard enough to slide it...And Kane was now in view once more.

"Oh shit..." He managed. And rolled once more out of the wait of the giant man running by. "Damn, do the fucking Syndicate hire football-rejects, I mean, c'mon!" He pulled out his SMG, making sure it was reloaded before he once more began fire. "...if my pistol can't do anything, let's see if your face can handle a shitload of bullets..."

A round later, and the giant continued towards Kane. "You have got to be shi-"

The giant backhanded him, which once more sent him flying. He hit the ground and let out a sigh. "Getting tired of this shit..." Kane stated, and looked up to see the Giant's foot coming down on him. Kane rolled out of the way just as the foot crashed into the ground.

Kane rolled and got to a knee…and fired his SMG into the giant's foot, half a round later...the Giant suddenly took a knee, letting out a few gasps. Kane grinned and finally got to his feet. He pulled out the last of his grenades, pulled the pin, and stuffed the grenade into the giant's mouth. He stepped back...and the grenade took the giant's head off.

"Finally!" he growled, and turned around...

And found at least a dozen Syndicate cars were now all in front of Planet Saints. There were just...a sea of Syndicate members. So many that Kane just hung his head. "Oh, for fucks sakes..."

"BOSS!" and that's when Kane would hear Pierce. He finally noticed it. Pierce was huddled behind a Syndicate car, his hands over his head as the car was just getting riddled with bullets. The Syndicate was focusing on him, and not the boss, and when you have that many...well, the car was already on fire suddenly, and Pierce looked to it, crying out a 'shit!'.

_No..._ Kane thought, growling as he pulled out his pistol. Firing at a few of the Syndicate, dropping them. _I ain't losing Pierce too..._

His pistol suddenly needed to be reloaded...he had no clips left.

His SMG was also empty.

"No...nonononono..." He cried, and took a step to start a fucking brawl with the Syndicate. But...Kane knew he was too late. Pierce couldn't step out or be killed, and the car was going to explode any second...And Kane couldn't do a damn thing...

A roar suddenly passed Kane...and he stopped in mid-step. He looked over to find something...oddly familiar.

...It was a truck...looking exactly like those Trucks the FBI used to drive around in back when he was in Stilwater. It was sliding into the chaos. In fact in one fell moment, the truck slide into the Syndicate 'traffic jam', slamming a few cars and flipping them…and somehow hit the car that was on fire, flipping that as well and away from Pierce, saving his life.

As the car was still sliding...the passenger door opened...and Kane's irritation returned once more.

As the truck started to slide to a halt, a being stepped out of the car, taking two steps and the truck slide to a halt, an inch from Pierce, who wasn't even aware that he was just saved. The figure that stepped out...was wearing jeans that were a little too lose, with a chain hooked up on the left side. 'She' was wearing a black and white stripped tank-top, with a vest that looked like it was made of Kevlar or something.

But it was the face that made Kane recognize her...that and the Stupid floppy fisherman's hat that she wore. The damn hat was always a bit too large, and hung low on her head to conceal her face if the shadows covered her. Still, in this light, he could see her face. The paint that covered her face...

...Painted Face...

If looks could kill, then Kane's glare would have strangled this woman. Instead, the woman responded with a smirk, and a click of her dual SMGs.

The Syndicate were in a daze, more surprised that a truck showed up and smashed through their defenses than anything else. Before they could get their bearings, Painted Face turned her dual SMGs towards them, and fired away...

For the most part, the firing merely made the Syndicate duck for cover...only a few idiots were hit by the gunfire. Once the clips for both the SMGs were empty, she dropped them...only to pull out dual pistols. 45 Shepards, only these were black. Painted Face waited for a quiet moment as she took a few steps...a Syndicate head peeked over the car...only to be shot once between the eyes, Painted Face then waited again.

Every shot that was made by Painted Face...was a Syndicate that went down. No need to waste bullets. She lowered one pistol, firing towards the ground. The bullet bounced, hit a tire, and the suddenly tire exploded startled a Syndicate, and he jumped up with "What the...!" before a bullet hit his head too...

And Kane watched, staring in fact. Every shot she made was a hit, or even directing the Syndicate to get to that hit.

The voice of Johnny suddenly rang in his head. "We traded our Dicks for Pussies." And it became clear to Kane as he watched as Painted Face was showing her badass self at this moment. "I lost my game..." Kane stated...back in the day? He could do shit like this...no…actually he couldn't. Hell, Painted couldn't do this shit back in the day...

Kane had lost much of his skills for murder, PF honed her skills..

He settled. "Fuck that...time to clean up my act..."

He was surprised when he heard a "Boss!" but it wasn't Pierce. The Driver of the big-ass truck stepped out, and tossed Kane a clip. Kane grinned and nodded to the driver before he reloaded, and stepped into the fray.

Granted, his attacks were rusty, so it took him 2-3 bullets to take down a guy, but hell if he didn't feel better already. He managed to stand behind Painted Face and continued to fire.

As Kane's pistol was nearly out of bullets once more, he suddenly heard Pierce once more. "Time to tip on outta here!"

"No doubt" Kane stated, placing his pistol away. He glared over towards Painted, who was still firing away.

"Go, boyo, I'll keep these assholes occupied until you get to safety...Meet me at Smiling Jacks in an hour...we'll talk then..." Painted stated, then went back to firing.

As irritated as Kane was, he found himself heading back to his Raycaster, jumping in along with Pierce, drove off.

As soon as they no longer heard Syndicate...for the moment, Pierce sighed. "That big fucker wasn't normal..." Pierce stated...like he somehow missed the giant truck showing up.

Still, it was enough to settle Kane down once more. "You think?"

"I've seen some scary motherfuckers, but the way he was shrugging off bullets...?"

Kane nodded softly. "Yeah, something wasn't right...At least he's dead." Oh hell, did Kane really wish that there was only the one big bastard...

"I hear that..."

* * *

Smiling Jack's was a small café in the corner of a main street, not too far away from his crib. An hour had passed, and after making sure his suit and shades were not affected by the chaos, he was drove over to the café.

A legion of Kenshin bikes were resting there, and several dozen men wearing thick-ass armor that rivaled Swat were all there, and gave him a nod. One of them even gave him an old Saints salute. "Good to ya boss..."

There was something about having a guy like this salute you that kind of gave you strength, and for some odd reason, he felt a little better. His headache was there during the last hour, so something about them acknowledging him settled him the rest of the way.

Soon, he was inside the café. Several tables were filled with armored men, though there were a few that occupied by several civilians. Most of them looked worried, but the gang-bangers seemed more content. The cashier behind the bar didn't' seem to mind, no doubt Painted paid him a shit load of money, and he was happy.

That woman was sitting in the corner of the café. Her hat was set down on the table as well as her two Shepards sitting next to it. In front of the woman was a very large plate filled with fries and one of the biggest burgers that Kane had seen in a long time.

Painted had just taken a bite from it, and lifted her head lightly to look at Kane. Suddenly his memories that were slightly blurred suddenly became clear again, looking right at the face of this woman.

The name Painted Face was possibly the dumbest name they could come up with, though then she didn't want to copy names like Joker, which would have been cool though folks would have taken her as a comic book nerd then. And Mime didn't have a good ring to it…seriously, who would piss their pants when they hear 'the Mime' has come to town?

Nah, Painted Face was her name her entire face was covered in white-makeup, at least that's what it looked like. Black eyeliner to highlight her dark eyes, black paint to cover her lips and the edge of the make-up. It seemed she had changed the design, adding a rough tribal tattoo that made her less of a mime, and more like those Maori warriors that he saw on TV that one time.

The girl kept her piercings as well from those years ago, two silver studs were on her face, one below her bottom lip, the other on her left nostril. Her ears were covered with a few silver and black piercings as well. Black hair split down the middle and ended to her chin, though a little frazzled from the fact that she wore a helmet.

This was fucking Painted Face, the design may have changed but damn if that woman didn't seem to have changed at all. His anger slowly started to rise as he moved up to the table, glaring at her when she grinned in response.

"Well, well, well, the fat fucking cat finally comes to see this old shit...come on, sit down and order this burger, it's fantastic..." Painted grinned upon saying that, holding up the burger fully, revealing the pink inside. "Most fast food places have oatmeal and shit in it at this point, it's good to have some sort of grade beef once and awhile."

"I don't need you here, Painted..." Kane stated, crossing his arms and giving her a glare...which may have easily been ignored only because the damn shades were a little too good, couldn't see the eyes at all.

The woman just stared back at him defiantly, moving a hand away from the burger and stroked the tip of her gun lightly. "What? Can't we talk about old times, boyo? Go out into the world and blow shit up like the good ol' days?" Seeing an even darker glare, she rolled her eyes. "Lighten up, boyo. The past is the past, and we both have skeletons in our closets..."

Kane just shook his head. "The last time you were around me, you took out several city blocks with a fire..." He states softly. "And trust me, I regret most of my mistakes over the years…" he states softly and moved in closer to the stall. He placed his hand on the back of the chair across from Painted and leaned in closer. "...Do you regret any of yours?"

"Not a damn one..." Painted replied.

Kane just sighed. "And that is why you and I will never work together..." He states softly and pulled away. "Get outta town, Painted, or I'll focus my efforts in making sure you never make any trou..."

"...I'm here for Johnny..." At their first intro, she was grinning from ear to ear as she shot up Syndicate guys. Moments before? She was actually showing a friendly persona, inviting him to eat a burger and all around giddy that he was there. Those four words uttered just now? Was serious, bitter and angry. Her eyes went from a pleased attitude to 'I will kill you in seconds' type of attitude, her glare matching his. "...You let him die, Kane..."

Kane actually flinched to that, and he slowly pulled off his shades, revealing the blue eyes underneath. "He pushed me out of the room before I could do anything...we tried to come back but we were thrown out..."

"Doesn't matter. He's dead...My best friend, is fucking dead..." Painted growled under her breath. "You may have let him die, but the guns that killed him were red, not purple. I ain't gonna lie and say I am not mad at you, but in truth, I'm mad at the Morning Star more..."

"Morning Star?"

"...The fucking red-coated idiots you just fought, Syndicate makes up three gangs, and the Morning Star runs them both...I can't tell ya much beyond the fact that if the Syndicate runs anything, you'll see a red shirt or red coat leading them." Painted explained, in a rough but understandable way. "Though the knowledge that I have of them, your boys requires more guns, and more toys to go against them, and I can supply it..."

Kane stopped for a short moment. Right, she was an Arms Dealer of all things.

"It won't be free, but I can throw in the bill once this is over..." Painted put her hands together and pressed her lips against it. It wasn't pleading, it was almost like she was thinking something at the moment.

As much as his group stole from the armory, they needed all the help they could get...and honestly? More guns was always better than none...

The deal wasn't bad, but honestly? The problem wasn't the deal, it was her.

He held out a finger, and, with as much power as he could provide, he manged to straighten his face out, showing less irritation, and trying to look as business like as possible. While waving the finger to her, he said "This is a Saints operation..."

"This is a Saints Operation..." Painted repeated.

He nodded, and waved his finger again. "You are here to assist, not to lead..."

Painted, to Kane's surprise, nodded. "I am here to assist, not to lead..."

Kane nodded again. "If you have ideas, you tell me, do not do them yourself..."

Painted rolled her eyes. "I can't promise tha..."

Kane glared.

Painted huffed. "Fine...I will not go off on my own..."

Kane threw over a phone. "Put your number in there, I'll contact you soon..." Painted padded in a phone then through the phone back to Kane. With a nod, Kane stepped out of the restaurant.

One of the men, the bald headed guy with a goatee named Jimmy, stepped over and sat across from Painted. She let him of course, he was the equivalent to her second in command. "Text message, the warehouse outside the city is finished unpacking, we can keep a low profile there until we can bring our stuff into the city..."

Painted simply nodded, watching as Kane left fully before eyeing her burger.

Jimmy tilted his head lightly. "...You sure that was a good idea boss? Giving him the lead?"

Painted looked to Jimmy and smirked. "I might be psycho, but I ain't stupid. Steelport isn't a place to burn, it's a place to sell our merchandise..." She gets her drink and sips it lightly. "Once the gangs are done, so is he..."

Jimmy paused for a moment, then nodded.

* * *

_Kane found himself inside of the church. He just became a full fledged member of the Saints, and now the worry was finally starting to settle in. He just started to meet some of the other Saints...and tried his best to not look like an idiot after seeing that...babe...from what the other guys were saying, her name was Lin. _

_Damn..._

_Either way, his first actual mission was when Johnny gave him a call, told him to meet him in the church. _

_First impressions? Johnny was a bit of a mouth, though considering the respect that most of the other Saints had for him told him that there was more to the guy. This made Kane nervious...last thing he needed was to be on the wrong side of a guy who was so greatly respected and feared._

_He rolled around the corner in the church, heading towards the desk area...and he heard...punching? Not flesh-to-flesh, it sounded like something harder._

_As Kane stepped into the room, straight ahead, he found that woman that he saw around Johnny before, at least that's who he thought it was from the back. She was...boxing, with one of those large punching bags. From where Kane could see her, she was wearing some sort of thick gloves. _

_Who the hell was that? She a fighter for the Saints? She the girl for Johnny? He stared at her for a moment…until a voice suddenly caught his attention._

"_Hey, eyes over here...leave that bitch alone otherwise you'll lose all your teeth..."_

_Kane turned to the right to find the Johnny, sitting in a chair with his feet up. Behind him is a posters of girls all around. Dex was next to him, standing with his arms crossed. He looked actually amused to see Kane staring at the chick in the corner of the room. "Sit down" Johnny said with a grin._

_With a shrug in response, Kane stepped over, twirled the seat around and sat on it backwards, pressing his chest to the back of the seat._

"_So you're Julius' new boy huh?" Johnny said, leaning more back. The look that he gave Kane made the new boy sweat. "…You don't look like much. Then again, I don't look like I have an eight inch cock, so I guess we're both full of surprises."_

_Kane raised a brow, though smirked afterwards._

"_The Vice Kings are named after one guy: Benjamin King. That shit don't happen unless you're a professional or a bad ass, and in King's case, he's both." Johnny explained._

_Seems like none of the gangs are going to be easy to face off against, Kane thought. _

_Then the cell phone that was on the desk rang, and Johnny soon picked it up. "Oh, hold up..." he grins even more. "I gotta take this..." Johnny went from acting like a boss to possibly the suavest man alive...or at least that's what Johnny thought he was doing. _

"_Aisha...what a pleasant surprise..." That reaction made Dex rolled his eyes. Kane smirked, maybe these guys were a bit more down to earth than he thought._

_Suddenly, another voice cried out quickly, very quickly, to where Johnny blinked and finally sat up in his chair. "Whoa, slow down..." The voice grew in volume and Johnny had to pull the phone away from his ear as he winced. "...Okay, that's not slower, that's louder. Shit...Where's she headed? Don't worry, I got this!" he stated roughly through the phone. He ended the call and sighed._

_Dex was the first to respond. "What's up?" _

_Kane looked over to Dex...and noticed that the punching stopped. The dark-haired girl who was in the corner was now standing about two feet away from him, listening in herself. In fact, she spoke next. "...Is it Aisha? What happened?"_

_Johnny looked to both of them. "Some motherfucker's grabbed Aisha's sister right off the street."_

_Dex frowned and sighed. "Shit man, that's the sixth girl this month. We know who's doing this?"_

_Johnny frowned, almost glaring at the phone. "Yeah, the Vice Kings."_

_This made Dex frown as well. "No way man, kidnapping ain't King's style."_

_The girl was to respond next. "Tanya might be going behind King's back...if the rumors are true..."_

_Johnny waved his hands. "Don't know, don't fuckin' care." He turns to Kane finally. "Aisha said they were drivin' a yellow sedan. Tail those bitches back to wherever they go and get those girls back. Take Jackie here with you..."_

_Kane blinked a bit, then turned to the dark haired woman. She gave him a solemn nod. He nodded back, and the two were off._


	4. Crazy Girls

Hopefully I don't have to keep adding these to the chapters but: Don't own anything but one character, Alith anar owns Kane. And there we go.

**3\. Crazy Girls  
**

by: DahkWaltz

* * *

_For a small time guy, Dex was fucking smart. _

_After taking out the Vice Kings and rescuing Aisha's little sister, his 'mad' skills soon got the attention of the other Lieutenants. With the orders of Dex, he worked alongside the mystery girl named Jackie and took out two drug labs of the Carnales. The way that Dex ran on about some of the plans he wanted to throw at the Carnales? Kane's jaw dropped. This guy had been planning this crap for a few months...that or he actually was that smart._

_Lin also got a hold of him, and to his surprise he didn't trip on his own feet. He can't remember specially what he did...though it was something about stealing a Peterliner and driving the big rig to their chop shop. Kane guessed he was sort of daydreaming about the tall, strong Asian woman. _

_Though during that mission, Lin didn't ask for that other girl to join him._

_As he was stepping out of the chop shop, he got a call from Johnny, who picked him up in a few minutes and drove him out of the Row and into Carnales territory. _

"_Dex is gonna meet us there, man...Hey, you did fucking awesome out there. No doubt Julius will probably have you out as one of our enforcers sooner than you think..."_

_Kane smirked a little, and offered a shrug in return._

_Johnny just laughed. "...You always so humble or just too fucking shy to talk...what's your name, man?"_

_For a moment, he remained quiet...though finally he managed to say it. "...Kane..."_

"_Kane? Hell of a name. Sounds like a name that should get the other gangs to shit their pants..." Johnny stated, giving him that Saints handshake that they all do. "Now c'mon. Let's get to neutral territory...At least neutral for the Carnales..."_

"_Neutral?"_

_Johnny turned to him and nodded. "Often people are too drunk at this bar to even look at IDs. A few Carnales will step in from time to time, but no V-Kings or Rollerz. Those two gangs have their own hangout, so they ignore this place...Besides, this place I right up my alley...and I figure, why not bring the new boy in, could at least get to know the rest of the family..."_

_Kane looked to him for a moment and raised an eyebrow._

_Johnny smiled. "Yeah, me, Dex, Lin and Jackie? We all come from the Row man...we and Troy all were the first to join in when Julius called to arms. We knew each other for years. So…family.."_

_Kane rubbed his chin lightly and smiled. "...All right man, let's go..."_

* * *

"How the hell did you get all this stuff into this little tiny apartment?" Painted said in bewilderment. There were several crates that filled the entire room…hell, the crates were now some of the furniture, with how all the soldiers were treating it. "...I thought you were kidding when it came to getting a new place."

Kane shrugged sheepishly. "eh, you take what you can get, and considering it seems the Syndicate has hackers, we'll have to start from the base down..."

Painted Face shrugged. "And this is why I don't put all my money in the bank…nope...bunch of shitheads they are...that and people try and rob backs still..." she states..slowly turning her head to Kane.

"Hey, fuck you, it was a publicity stunt!" Kane held his hands out, and the tone wasn't violent, indicating he was goofing off.

Shaundi made her way out of the bedroom, looking about as pissed as before...that was before her eyes slowly drew over to Painted. Much of her anger subsided, and actual surprise showed slowly over her features. She was probably as surprised as Kane was at how fast Painted showed up. "I see we are getting along already..."

Painted's own dark eyes turned directly towards Shaundi, and there was an instant smile upon the crazy girl's features. "Holy shit, if it isn't the original party girl!" Without missing a beat, she managed to jump over a large crate and proceeded to land on her feet and jog over to the other girl without missing a beat. The hug that came next, Kane could tell it almost knocked the wind out of Shaundi, almost.

Shaundi smirked lightly, her arms slowly encircling around Painted to return the hug, though shook her head. "Bad...still coping with Johnny being..."

Painted pulled away just enough to look Shaundi directly in the eye, then leaned her forehead to Shaundi's. "Relax, and don't worry too much about it. I'm here, Kane's here, Pierce is here...we'll fuck them up good, all right?"

As he watched as Shaundi's bitterness and anger slowly fade into another tight hug, Kane had to admit, he forgot how close those two were. Painted had a soft spot for the smaller girl...and one of the few times where she didn't seem all that insane.

Painted finally looked over to Kane, "All right, Boss. I'm gonna send some of my enforcers to the docks and see if we can take over a warehouse. Just for supplies and shit. No doubt you guys can find a place for the Headquarters..."

Shaundi frowned softly, some of the previous rage started to return. "Seriously, you two? I thought you were going to be able to talk the Boss into taking or Loren..."

Painted smirked. "Oh, he is, but we gotta be level headed about it. We set up a base of operations, then use that to plan, and charge in. Plus..." She pulled her hands out to the apartment. "You really think we can set up you entire group here?"

Shaundi opened her mouth, and sighed. "...Okay...fine, we need a better place...just...let's get the bastard as soon as possible..."

Painted Face looked back to Kane. "...Kane was close to Johnny, so was I...The Syndicate won't know what hit them..."

"Considering all the shit she went through, you actually got her to settle down with ease." Kane stated jokingly, just stepping outside the apartment. It took a moment to remember who this was, and why he should have a problem with her. Still, there was something about her being around that made him feel a bit better.

"All right. I'll see if I can get a hold of Paul and see if he can get more information about some usable condos around this place..."

Painted Face turned her head to him and raised a brow. "Who the fuck is Paul?"

"Paul?" Kane stated and grinned. "Hell, he's our..." He stopped and looked down when the cell rang. He picked it up. 'Paul? Damn boy, I'm happy to get a hold of ya...what? what do you mean Pierce sent you some things...actually where the fuck has Pierce been? All right, y'know what, hold that thought Paul, let me get back to you."

Painted raised a brow as Kane sighed and dialed Pierce soon after. "Pierce, what are you up to..."

"Hey Boss! Glad you called. Think I found us a new place..."

Kane blinked a bit, then placed the call on speaker. "Pierce, you were suppose to be looking for Loren, not going house hunting…I was actually gonna get Paul to..."

"See, that's the beauty of this place: It's owned by the Morning Star..."

Kane blinked a bit then turned to Painted Face, who merely smiled and shrugged. "Hell, I'd go with it..."

He shrugged back to her then turned towards the phone again. "All right, I'm listening."

Pierce continued. "The Morning Star have a penthouse downtown where they're throwing some big party for their global contacts."

Kane let out a sigh. "And their real estate agent will be there, right?"

"Real funny. I was gonna say we crash their party, kill the Morning Star, and keep the place for the Saints, Ha!"

Kane smiled a bit. Oh, he loved this idea. He turned to Painted Face, who suddenly disappeared, he blinked a bit before looking back to the phone once more. "I'm game, what's the plan?"

"The Saints will be downstairs until you can unlock the elevator for them to come up."

Kane made a face. "Wait, if I can't go up then how will I..." Then it occurred to him. "Oh...right...penthouses..."

"That's right..." He heard Pierce respond, and he could hear the grin behind it. "Meet me at the airport..."

Kane sighed just a bit. "Okay, Painted, where the hell did you..." He took a step back when a car suddenly drove right to him, sliding lightly until it very, very slowly kissed the curb with no damage to it. It was a fucking Temptress...

Painted Face pulled her head out and grinned. "I'm driving, where are we going?"

Kane just eyed the car and just shook his head. "…Seriously? Of all the things a fucking temptress..." He states and climbed into the passenger's seat. "Airport..."

Painted watched him as he climbed in. "...what's the matter with a Temptress?"

Kane shook his head. "Absolutely nothing...this is my favorite fucking car in the world...I'm keeping it..."

Painted smirked a bit and started off. "What? You have a driver that takes you around these days?"

Kane eyed her and sighed. "I got back into becoming a damn good driver, Painted..."

"Yeah, sure…" She stated idly.

* * *

A long, quiet ride later, they were both on the Helicopter. Pierce flying, and Shaundi and a crap-load of Saints were on the ground. It took all of...ten minutes to set this all up, and even Painted seemed amused by it.

"Even Pierce became a Helicopter pilot, damn man...the hell did I miss out?" She asked Kane as she held on.

Kane just laughed a bit. "Trust me, you missed a lot. Surprised you didn't become a celebrity yourself..."

Painted just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no. Hell no..."

Kane laughed in response. "But seriously, we all had to become jack of all trades, so understand if we are able to do some complicated things."

"I'll keep that in mind..." Painted Face retorted gently, looking out to the city, and how high they were.

Pierce soon interrupted them over the com. "All right boys and girls, we've arrived."

Pierce turned the helicopter sideways, and soon enough the duo saw the penthouse for the first time. Kane and Painted pulled up a pair of binoculars to check the place out.

A helipad was the first thing they both got to see, which was attached to the side of the building...up the flight of stairs and the two could see a swimming pool. The 'condo' itself was two stories at least, that pretty much took up the entire top of the building. Lofts covered the side, there was one hell of a main room that could hold a shit-load of things. After the quick conversation with Pierce, they also know that this place had a 'basement', or a third level below the main.

* * *

This…was a pretty...place.

"Whatchu thinking?" Pierce asked over the com.

Kane just chuckled. "Some asshole is in my pool..."

The com snapped lightly, and soon the two heard Shaundi. "The crew's ready downstairs. Say the word and we crash the party..."

Kane nodded. "Let's do this. Painted, mess with the guys outside, I'll start heading in and make my way to the basement..."

Painted nodded. "Got it..."

The two stared down, holding onto the edge of the Helicopter. They seemed to be waiting for a mark...

It was Kane who finally cried "Let's GO!" he cried, and jumped out of the helicopter. Painted followed soon after. As they soon dropped, Kane let out a "I really gotta stop doing this shit..." before his parachute opened.

...And Painted Face flew past him Still not opening her chute just yet.

"Hey, you ass!" Kane managed and glared at chick that kept falling. Soon though Painted opened her chute…and promptly fell into the pool. Kane soon shook his head and sighed. Seeing Painted getting out of the pool, he turned on his com. "Frisk some asshole for the number on the elevator, I'll find my way insi…OH SHIT!"

Inside the Penthouse, Strippers and Morning Star were just getting into the party. Some of the gang members were trying to even convince a stripper or two to do more than just strip...though that didn't happen. Not because the stripper said no...but because suddenly the skylight shattered. The glass falling everywhere with Strippers panicking and running in several different directions, Morning Star drew their guns, and looked about…before they looked up.

...And Kane was hanging there. His chute caught in the skylight above that he just burst through, and was now hanging low enough to where he could just cut his chute, and land safely to the ground. Still, the Morning Star staring at him lead to quite a bit of a problem.

"...Hey guys!" he grins and waves to them.

The Morning Star stared...then aimed their guns at him...slowly cocking their guns...

Then the outside exploded with bullets, loud enough to force all the Morning Star to look over. Kane took that to cut his chute…quite literally landing on top of one of the morning star and dropping him hard to the ground. He pulled out his pistol and fired several rounds, taking out a few of the guys.

He found himself picking up a secondary pistol, finally getting the second one before firing away at some of the Morning Star. In fact the only thing that stopped him from completely enjoying himself was the com suddenly flickering to life.

It was Painted Face, who was still outside. "All right, boyo, the number is 3-1-3-1. I'll keep these bozos occupied while you tear up the basement and bring in the rest..."

Kane nods. "Yeah, keep them occupied, I'll be back with reinforcements..." He states, rushing towards the only flight of stairs that lead down. As he got to the basement...he blinked upon seeing a small box of grenades. The doorway in front of him covered in barrels. "...Oh, nothing some explosives can't handle."

...seconds later the Morning Star on the other side of the barricade were in for a surprise when an explosion sent them flying with Kane passing through the flames, firing away and taking several Morning Star down. Quickly, he rushed over to the pad on the elevator, pressing in the code before turning around, watching as the gangsters in black and red started to come down the flight of stairs.

"Ready to Crash the party?" Kane stated, making sure the elevator was already heading up.

"We're coming up, Keep the door clear," was Shaundi's response.

Kane moved to take shelter, pausing for a moment before he pulled out something he recently bought. He threw a Flashbang to the side. Just as the gangsters rushed in, they instantly flew when the flashbang went off. Kane stepped back into view and fired.

One...two...three were down instantly, and soon it seemed he realized his hands were getting accustomed to the pistols…something he used to be good at so many years ago. Soon, he could not help himself. "Oh, I got a feeling...in my LOINS, OH!" he called out and laughed. Ignoring the fact that the elevator doors opened, and out stepped in Shaundi and several other Saints.

"What's the plan here?" Shaundi asked, pulling out her rifle and firing away at a small group of Morning Star.

"Clean the rest of these bastard out of our new place." Was Kane's response, quickly heading up the stairs.

"Easy enough!"

* * *

Painted Face had worked her way inside...though much to her dismay the elevator soon opened, revealing a shit load of Morning Star. The woman rolled behind one of the couches as the Morning Star continued firing, trying to take her out.

Painted Face started to reload her gun, but she heard them. They were marching her way. These mob-wannabes were outnumbering her like…20-30 to one. Not too bad of odds. Painted rushed out for a moment and fired, hitting a guy before rolling behind a couch. Still, it seemed that the Morning Star were coming through the elevator above, stepping in and firing downwards.

Painted just grinned a bit in response to all of this. "Damn, this is my kind of fight.." She states, moving over to take a peek...

She laughed, and laughed hard. It was enough to make some of the Morning Star pause on the main level. Little did the men and women wearing red know, but a small row of purple now was standing behind them.

...something rolled between two members of the Morning Star, and their guns instantly aimed towards it. It wasn't a grenade...it was a small can...something that the Morning Star would recognize as one of the 'bombs' that the cops would use...

It was only a moment later when a guys screamed 'FLASHBA...' before the flashbang suddenly exploded.

Painted Face jumped up, firing away at the Morning Star upon the second level while the Saints fired upon the Morning Star upon the main level. Bullet rained everywhere, though after only a few mere seconds, the Morning Star were down, and the Saints were walking around the dead bodies.

Shaundi soon appeared, firing at a remaining member of the Morning Star, then ran over towards Kane, who was now walking over to Painted Face.

Kane turned towards her with a smile. "How's it going, Shaundi?"

"Good news: we've cleared them out." Shaundi started. "Bad news: the boys are saying this place is rigged to blow."

"The fuck you say?" Painted Face managed.

Kane sighed. "Well...Shit..."

Kane was about ready to turn around and make the order for the gang to head out...until Shaundi noticed... "Where's that guy in the helicopter going?"

The Helicopter in question just pulled up…and shook for a few moments. Apparently the guy in the helicopter was a novice in one of those.

"Bet he knows how to disarm this place…" Kane muttered…and ran out the shattered windows of the penthouse and headed straight for the second copter that had landed earlier. Painted Face was right behind him, taking a seat on the side of their own helicopter. Soon enough, the copter was off, chasing after the Morning Star in the hopes to disarm it.

As the chase continued, the phone rang…much to Kane's dismay, Painted Face answered it. "How's the cleanup going?"

Shaundi huffed over the com. "What do I look like, a damn maid?"

Painted Face grinned softly. "You'd look cute in the outfit..."

"We're sitting on a bomb here, and you're making jokes?"

"Pierce and the Boss would agree with me..." Painted Face stated. This earned a laugh from Kane.

The Helicopter landed next to the one they were chasing, and Kane tapped his com. "Talk to me, Shaundi."

"Looks like these things are on a coded timer, and the clock's ticking! You got him yet?"

Kane soon found himself entering a warehouse, with a few more Morning Star inside. Painted took a look around herself a she pulled out her pistols, firing away and taking down as many of the Morning Star as she could. "Just finish cleaning up, I'll get the codes."

"Nope, no codes. Just four wires: red, green blue, and black."

Kane sighed a bit. "I'll get back to you then." He continued to fire upwards at the gangsters, taking down a few himself. "Dammit, I don't have time for these assholes."

Painted Face found a good hiding spot, and nodded to Kane. "Go get him, I'll keep you covered..."

Kane nodded and looked to where the guy was hiding. "All right...gonna trust you!" he cried and ran off. Bullets barely wooshed by...for the moment. Seconds later most of the bullets had stopped. Kane himself pulled up his own pistols, taking out the few Morning Star that were in front of him.

Soon enough, Kane captured the man in front of him, and pushed him against the wall. "How do I defuse the bomb?"

The guy screamed like a little girl. "The red wire, cut the red wire!"

"Good boy..." Kane stated before punching the man out. He moved back out, seeing the rest of the Morning Star down and called Shaundi. "Shaundi, cut the red ones."

"Damn...I lost the bet."

Kane chuckled. "Good times..."

He smirked a little, and shot one more of the Morning Star before looking at the camera above him, shooting it out as well.

* * *

_Johnny stepped in with Kane behind him, and the first thing that Kane would hear thundering Metal over the speakers. It was loudest near the door; Kane soon realizing this about the time that he stepped further into the place. To be honest he had no idea what was in store when he first stepped in...though soon he would be surprised when once he did._

_It was a bar, though the center of the room was set up like an arena. A chain-link fence acted as the wall, so that any to all people that were around could watch the fight. Tables were set all around the arena, and to be honest, the place was packed with people, cheering on the fighters that were just finishing their match. _

_As Johnny kept slipping further in, Kane soon caught the sight of Dex, who waved them both over. To Kane's surprise, Dex actually was sitting at an empty table, which was a front-row seat for the arena. As Kane managed to step up close enough, he saw the handgun that was resting on the table, which confirmed why there was nobody there._

_Dex stood up and gave Johnny and Kane the 'bro-hug' before sitting down, grinning as he waves to the match. "Good timing, Johnny, we're next up..."_

_Kane blinked and sat back, and waved a hand. Did he mean us?_

_Johnny waved his hand. "Nah, watch this..."_

_As the match in front of them finished, the announcer finally came forward. "All right! Give the guys a warm round of applause. And now folks, time for our championship match. "_

"_As you all know, we've had rather random matches here...anybody who's anybody can step up! So...to our surprise? Our champion of our broken arena is one big brutal chick. You all know her folks, you all love her, or hate her, but you remember her...Ladies and Gentlemen, Tara _!" _

_This tall woman soon stepped in, packed with muscles and with tits that made most jaws dropped. She stepped through the door that lead into the ring, then moved to one side. People booed, and Kane actually had no idea...until..._

"_Oh, fuck off you wankas! I'll fuck all your mommas!"_

_Kane shook his head and sighed._

"_And wouldn't you know it? She has finally been challenged! By another chick!" The announcer grinned a bit, and Kane could have sworn that from a distance, the bastard was fanning himself. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the challenger...Jackie Teagan!"_

_Kane looked towards the door. Sure enough, it was the same gal that helped him in both the Vice King's and Carnales' missions that he was asked to do. Her hair was tied back, she wore a tight black top and shorts. Because she had a trenchcoat on, he never got to see anything else of her...but now she was showing a bit more flesh. Especially her arms, which were rather muscular for her size, and completely covered in tattoos. Her legs also had a few tattoos, though nowhere near as much. _

_She looked fucking awesome. Jackie waved to the audience who cheered her on. Then turned to hug somebody before stepping in._

_...and wouldn't you know it, the person she hugged was Lin. Kane stared for a few moments at the badass Asian chick, who finally looked over, and gave him a wink in return before both returned to the match._

_The two warrior girls stood at the center of the ring, while the ref started to speak. "All right, no low blows, no biting, no trying to take off ears..." He looks to the champion. "I mean you on that..."_

_The champion grinned and watched Jackie lightly._

"_Beyond that, if I tell you to stop, you stop. You can win by submission, by KO, etc. All right, you two ready. Shake hands and head to your corner._

_The champion and Jackie soon stepped up, and took their hands to shake…only then Jackie suddenly jumped up and gave the champion a very powerful kiss._

_People stared for a very long moment, Kane just blinked. Johnny and Dex laughed. Lin shook her head but smiled. _

_The Champion? Well, she got pissed and tossed the girl off of her, sending her flying for a second before Jackie landed on her two feet.. "Oh, you stupid dyke bitch!" _

_Jackie winked lightly in return to the girl. And the bell rang. The two went in close...and both swung at each other..._

_And during that night, Kane learned many things about the girl named Jackie..._

* * *

_Fives long minutes. That's all it took._

_The Champion named Tara had the much smaller Jackie blistered and broken. For four of the five minutes this woman had Jackie on the ropes, with the pour girl trying to defend herself the entire time. While Tara took a moment to pant, Jackie merely puckered her lips, sending the champion to go all out against the smaller girl._

_Blood flowing from a wound on her brow, her cheek, her lip. Her eye nearly swollen and black, and yet Jackie continued to just taunt the champ. At one point Kane questioned whether they should throw in the towel and get Jackie out of there._

_...The Champ dropped her arms and gasped for breath, and suddenly Jackie was a wildcat. The first swing of Jackie's fist actually sent the champ reeling back. Jackie's second punch slammed into the Champs gut, which sent the much taller women to hunch over in pain. Soon, the much smaller girl was sending a flurry of punches into the beast, backing the Champ into the corner. _

_Once the Champ was obviously unable to stand up straight anymore, Jackie held the bigger woman's chin, and used that to pull the champ to stand upright. Jackie swung once more with a right hook, which sent the champ hitting the floor hard._

_Five long minutes, and Jackie took the beast out like it was nothing. Jackie waved her hands and grinned, blood all over her face and in her teeth, but she didn't seem to care. Many of the guys in the room were hooting and cheering, and the new champ was taken by Lin to the back room._

_Soon after, the rest of the Saints were in the back locker room, where Jackie was taking a shower, and Lin was guarding the door to it. _

_Kane just rubbed his head as he laughed. Johnny followed suit before handing the man a beer. "What'd I tell ya? This place is one hell of a show..." He states before sitting on the same bench that Kane was on. "I figured you'd love to see Jackie fight, bitch is a fucking terror when you put her in the ring..."_

_Lin shook her head as she watched the two. "You to boys done?" She states softly, crossing her arms. "Where's Dex?"_

_Johnny waved her off. "Out with the prostitutes again." When Kane gave him a weird look, Johnny just smiled. "Eh, he always was fond of them man..." _

_Kane chuckled just a bit...that was until the shower turned off, and a naked girl walked by them. Johnny crossed his arms and smirked a bit as Kane stared, though by then Lin coughed lightly. "Heads around boys..."_

"_What, and ruin my fun?" Johnny stated. "Was gonna get her towel and snap that ass of hers."_

"_...and then I'd fucking punch you, shithead..." Jackie stated, slowly putting on her jeans and a top. Once she was decent, the two could turn their heads back around. Despite the massive asskicking, Jackie looked decent. A few bruises here and there and a band-aid over her nose from the obvious cut there, but otherwise she looked like she went through a light beating. "C'mon guys, let's head back to Freckle Bitch's, get a super-size meal and just hang..." She states and grins. "Oh, and lets nab all the beers before they realized we stole it..."_

_The three others smirked a bit, and soon were on their way out. Most tuned out the announcer now._

"_And our final match, one of our strongest guys, Maero, will be taking on..."_

* * *

Matt Miller, the head of the Deckers, let out a small sigh. To be honest, he was already slightly annoyed by the other two heads of the Syndicate...granted, the head was Loren and he and Killbane were just two stooges that dealt particular jobs for him, but he figured he would at least listen to a bit more to him, especially when the issue came to a bunch of wild-bangers like the Saints.

Behind him stood Kimiko, his main Lieutenant, one of his best Specialists and a very damn good hacker in her own right. Not as good as that one FBI girl, but still pretty good. Judging by the look on Kimiko's face, she was just as threatened about the Saints as he was.

Killbane was the only person here for the Luchadores, though to be honest the Luchadores often had their Lieutenants working in various places at all times. Even his second in command was working on a deal currently. So all that was there was Killbane, who was making a pose, much like the statue behind him.

Matt sighed just a bit and looked to Killbane. "The Saints aren't going to back down." He states simply.

The giant ego across the table laughed merrily, and Matt just frowned. "Matty...there's nothing to worry about..."

Matt found himself was about to say something until another voice spoke up, the Belgian accent made sure that Matt knew exactly who it was. "My thoughts exactly, Mr. Killbane." Loren stepped down the flight of stairs, completely cleaned up, and with an eyepatch over his eye, and somehow a cigarette hanging over his blind side. "The Saints are no more than a white noise of empty threats." He stated.

Matt's cell phone rang, and he soon picked it up to look at it before sighing. He placed the phone on the table and slide it to the other side, where Loren would pick it up. "With respect, sir..."

Loren looked at the phone...which showed a video of Kane killing a Morning Star, before turning around to shoot the camera.

"I'd say 'empty' is no longer applicable..."

Loren looked down at the phone soon enough, and frowned. "…It appears I chose right...My son Marko will be here by tomorrow..."

Killbane stopped posing and frowned. "Really? Did we have to bring him in?"

Loren looked to Killbane. "He may not be as sophisticated as the Morning Star in Steelport, but I know that he can be a great assistance to this..." He looked to the phone before sliding it back over to Matt. "...Menace..."


	5. Screwing Around

Yet again, none of this is owned by me. Kane is owned by Alith Anar. Painted Face is mine.

Alith Anar and I will be playing a round of Saints Row 2, and will post a recording, showing Kane and Painted in action during the good ol' days. I will set a link in my profile of the videos if you guys are interested.

* * *

4\. Screwing Around

By: DahkPanda

The beer burned lightly when going down the throat. Though for Painted Face, it always burned going down. Most believe that it's actually a mental issue that she needs to finally forget, though the more she forgets, the more it burns. It's like even after some medication to sooth the throat, it still burns. It wasn't a dry throat, just the fact that everything burns when going down.

But then again, it's been that way since Stilwater.

The Penthouse was very quick to clean up. The skylight was easily fixed and the many bodies were disposed. Painted Face never heard exactly where they put the bodies, though rumors about bodies floating in the bay area were clues enough.

It seemed like Shaundi hated the place, enough to where she left in a hurry. Meanwhile, her own little gang had taken the warehouse that she and Kane cleaned out while trying to hunt down how to stop the bombs.

This left her alone...sitting in the new crib of a gang that was no longer hers. Her enforcers nodded and respected the Saints Leader...but the same didn't come to the Saints respecting her. Granted, they thought she was a badass and didn't try to pick a fight with her, but she was still the original bad-news character. For all the shit she did back in Stillwater.

Still, most Saints were young and naïve, didn't realize that time can sometimes tend to old wounds...some, old wounds.

Granted, she's still pissed that Dex is alive somewhere, but fuck it...

Either way, it was no surprise when she sat down upon a chair, leaning sideways against the banister. Beyond the banister? Nothing. Just sky as she was resting next to the edge of the building. She sat ten feet from the hot-tub where two strippers are splashing each other, and away far enough to be ignoring the music in the background.

The Saints were dancing and making asses of themselves. There were also cameras but hell if she will go in there when there's fucking cameras.

As she finished her beer, she threw it off the edge, wondering if it was going to hit someone...or crack on the glass and some dumb ho would step on it. The thought amused her for a moment, but she continued to lay back and sigh.

A beer suddenly appeared in her vision, and she looked up to see a masculine hand. She turned to look over to see Kane on the other end. "Truce?"

Painted Face smirked. "I waved my flag yesterday, boyo..." She grabbed the beer and opened it. "So killing Loren is gonna take some money...no doubt with the camera crew here, you'll be getting some cash flow."

Kane shook his head. "Nope, actually the cameramen are here for a charity or something...Pierce's idea." He stated and found the chair that was across the table from hers. He twirled the chair and sat down on it backwards. Pierce has some ideas, but I want to make sure that the party dies some before we go out and do it..."

Painted nodded lightly, "Good, might be able to clear my head some before our next adventure. My boys are setting up in that warehouse and we'll make sure nobody sees us too often. We'll probably capture some vans and have them drive around to the basement of your building. Probably pay off a catering shop so any Syndicate tries to watch us, they'll think it's a constant party up here..."

Kane nodded. "...Thanks for the weapons, Painted..."

The woman nodded softly.

The man leaned lightly to get a better look at her. "...You going to be okay with this, are you able to fight without fucking things up?"

If they were having a calm moment, that killed it. Painted soon gave him a rather vicious glare. "Fuck off, Kane. You and I both know I'm capable..."

"Yeah, I know that...I know you before you became..." He moved a hand and nearly rubbed the side of her face with the back of his palm. "...and you were never a screw up...But after...that, you were never the same...you're more fucking violent, bloody. Fuck man...I understood some of things you did, but that fell on Carlos..."

Painted pushed his hand away and downed her beer, then tossed it to the ground, letting the bottle shatter on the new penthouse floor. "I can handle this, Kane. Let's just get back to work..."

* * *

"_So..."_

"_Oh my god...it speaks!" Jackie cried out, looking over Johnny to Kane, who just made a face to her._

_Johnny laughed lightly. They stole a decent Hammerhead convertible and now were resting on the hood of it, at Freckle Bitches of all places. "Go ahead Kane, she don't bite too hard..."_

_Kane let out a sigh and finally looked over. "So...what are you...?"_

_Jackie looked to Johnny for a moment before looking back, her long, black hair tied back into a ponytail. She gave him a strange look before responding. "What am I? Human bitch who likes to hit things..."_

_Kane blinked and rubbed his head lightly. "No...you're like...another lieutenant for the Saints?"_

_Jackie laughed a bit. "Oh...nah. To be honest I guess I just wasn't leadership material in Julius' eyes. That and I hang around Johnny so much that I might as well just be one of his underlings. _

_Johnny smirked. "Last time she said that I asked her to lick my boot, then she punched me..."_

_The girl laid back. "Yeah well...you like the kill, I like the violence. Only major difference between you and me…." Johnny shrugged and fist-bumps her._

_Jackie sighed lightly. "...let's face it though...Kane, that's what Johnny called you?" Kane nodded softly, and Jackie soon continued. "Welcome to the Saints...chances are if Troy continues to step down, you might get his job..."_

_Johnny looks to Kane, then back to Jackie. "True, he does have the most level head amongst the Saints...though Dex may not like that..."_

_Jackie rolled his eyes. "Eh, let his ass stick to the hos. Julius wouldn't rank him up because he doesn't like the kid..."_

_Johnny shrugs. "True..." He states and rests back. "...man, can you see it? Use running this entire fucking city?"_

_The girl shrugged a bit. "...Won't be any more violence in the streets, just a battle in the ring. Granted, it would suck for you, Johnny...no more gangs to kill..."_

"_Fuck you say…?" Johnny stated and smirked. "Always gangs to fucking kill...hell, and police too...let the Saints build peace in the city, I'll just keep fucking kill anything they point me to...in my way, of course..."_

_The girl turned to Kane. "What do you think, Kane? You want the peace that the Saints will provide?"_

_Kane smirked a bit. "Hell, just give me the power to walk the streets with respect, and I don't care if its peace or war...just give me the respect..."_

_Johnny laughed softly. "Cool, bro..." He states, fist bumping Kane. "Let's stop the other gangs, and I'm sure as hell know you'll get the respect...get some rest man, because tomorrow I got an idea that will get the fucking Kings' blood to boil..."_

* * *

"Yeah, this is a great idea..." Painted Face muttered over the com. She sat on the passenger side of an Infuego, with Pierce at the wheel. She slipped from the seat to sit on the door of the car, firing away with any weapon that she had. At this time it was a K-6 Krukov, though damn her own men for not getting her the Krukov with the grenade Launcher.

That really would have helped when you had two-to-three black and red cars chasing you. Painted sighed lightly, also wishing she had brought in the M2 Grenade Launcher, but really Pierce stupidly dragged them along without her getting her good weapons. So really, she just had a decent shotgun, the Krukov, a few pistols and a pair of SMGs.

Seriously, fuck Pierce.

Though to be honest, her job was to just protect Pierce and his car...

The giant explosion behind the car, that took out all three Syndicate cars revealed Kane's job, which was using the Annihilator while sitting on a helicopter above. Seriously, Kane was up there, laughing like a maniac while firing away and hitting just about anything, except for Pierce's car thankfully.

"You suck at shooting with that thing, you asshole!" Painted Face screamed through the calm. As another Syndicate car pulled out, Painted Face fired with her Krukov, taking the driver out.

Another Syndicate car pulled out, then exploded. "Yeah, well, haven't hit ya, did I?"

Painted let out a very long sigh in response, her body shifting on the door before firing at another car. "Not yet, but you mi..." The car she was firing at exploded. "Hey! Fucker! That was my kill!"

"You keeping points there?"

"Fuck off..." Painted managed, and slapped the top of the car. "Pierce, we there yet?"

She soon heard Pierce a few seconds later. "Almost there, another roadblock!"

She looked ahead to see the pair of giant APCs standing in front of them. She soon heard the helicopter stop above them and sighed, she knew what was coming next.

"...you want these or want me to take them?"

Painted glared up at the helicopter, "Fucking take them, you ass..."

The response was two rockets flying into the APCs, destroying them both. Pierce sighed and waved his hand out to the window, thanking the helicopter before driving off.

"You're shit with a Sniper rifle, you know that?" Painted Face stated as she ran from behind one car to another...the car she was behind suddenly exploded, due to the three bullets from Kane's McManus that lit it on fire.

"Hey, I'm good when I want to be..."

"So you're saying you need cigs to calm yourself down?" Painted Face retorted, leaning up and firing twice. That man died and rolled around with an SMG still firing, killing the guy that was running up next to him.

"What?"

The girl grinned as Pierce made a run around the corner, she soon fell after him. "Y'know, cigs calm down the nerves, gets the aim better..." A dead silence responded back as Painted rolled around the corner, pressing herself against the wall and looking back to make sure that another Morning Star Car didn't appear out of thin air. "...Seriously? You've never played the original Metal Gear Solid?"

Static responded for a sec, before Kane finally retorted. "Yeah, no. Too busy killing random idiots on the streets than to play a fucking game..."

Painted Face smirked, looking towards the roof where the Helicopter rested. "You're missing out! Lot's of fun, man, especially when you get to outsmart morons when dressed as a box."

"Oh, yeah, like that's enough to make me want to play now..."

Painted Face shrugged. Upon hearing something behind her, she tossed a grenade and booked it, following after Pierce, who was now dead set on making it to his destination.

* * *

-Wesley Cutter International Airport-

* * *

Kiki sighed lightly as she sat in the back of the Status Quo Limousine. This was a rare moment when she and Viola were apart, though in truth with the Saints running wild in the streets of Steelport, Phillipe needed one of them around at HQ while the other had to pick up Loren's son...

Kiki had to let a smirk finally show. Saying that Marko was Loren's son sounded more like Marko was only eight years old. Laughing at fart jokes and playing video games with his friends.

But that would be a lie. The Syndicate was, as Loren said once to the Saints, a multinational organization. There was a board under Phillipe, and Kiki and Viola were just blow the board. If Phillipe were to pass, Kiki and Viola would run Steelport, but not the entire Syndicate.

No, that would be Marko that would take the mantle. Still, people worried when the day would come when he would replace his father. Wild, flashy, he was everything that his father wasn't. Due to his erratic behavior, Phillipe sent Marko into a number of boarding schools, and afterwards to work under several of the other board members. Marko was given control of the Syndicate in Liberty City for years, and has been rather successful there.

Hell, the young man was smart, able to handle himself against several mafia families, and even taking control of much of the city's underground. Rumors said Marko used several knowledgeable guys there, including an Irish/American family, and a very famous thug named...berrick? Bellic? She couldn't remember, but the Syndicate in Liberty City was run lightly by this Irish clan, which was unorthodox and frowned upon by the board.

Still, profit was booming in Liberty City, so the board says nothing.

Marko was proving to be the Syndicate's wildcard, and if the Saints were becoming a nuisance and getting away with it, it's about time the Syndicate brought in somebody that could think like them.

The door to the jet opened, and Kiki herself stepped out of the Limo. Several Syndicate members were already lined up around the limo, protecting her most of all. Still, they awaited for the lone figure that was upon that plane.

The figure soon stepped down the stairs off the jet, and Kiki could just see the personality waver from the form.

If Phillipe looked thirty years younger right now, he would look like this. Marko's hair was slicked back, a dark shade of brown that were a few shades darker than his eyes. He wore the same outfit as Phillipe too, with the suit and the red scarf that hung loosely over his frame.

Still, there were just a few differences. Marko didn't have the air of superiority that Phillipe had, looking more like the type of boss that would get his hands dirty if his men couldn't do it. When walking slow, Marko often stepped with one foot nearly slipping in front of the other, giving him an unusual swagger in his steps.

Kiki also knew what was resting under the jacket of the man's suit. Especially when it came to Liberty City, he needed to be always equipped. This was one of the most dangerous men outside of Killbane within the Syndicate.

About a few feet from Kiki, Marko smiled softly towards her, looking at her for a quiet moment before pointing to her. "...DeWynter...Kiki, yes?"

Kiki smirked and simply nodded. Unlike Phillipe, Marko was born an American and raised in America. This meant his voice didn't carry the heavy accent that his father had.

Marko smirked a bit and moved in close, taking her hand and leaning down to kiss it. "It has been ages, my dear. I did hope that one day you could at least step away from my father's shadow and join me in my city..."

Kiki shook her head. "Too much work to do..." She stated simply, and opened the door. She was surprised when he waved her to slip in first. She slid all the way to the other side before he slid in after her. "...But you knew that. That and we need to keep the Deckers and the Luchadores in line..."

Marko chuckled. "Well, you needed to get the two main gangs in Steelport under control, why not have them join the Syndicate. Hell, bring some of them to the LC, and I could help unleash them against those who stand in my way..." Marko smirked softly.

The two went quiet for a few moments, until Marko continued on. "So, the Saints? Thought they were just selling some disgusting energy drink?"

"...We tried to set settle a deal with them as Phillipe is starting his invasion into Stilwater. We hoped we could get them and Ultor under control, though it seems that they are a bit harder to handle..."

Marko nodded a bit. "Yeah, Ultor is a legitimate business though, so it would be difficult for the invasion...but...somehow the Saints found themselves here? And creating chaos? From the boards info, Steelport was taken over two years ago, often the old man should have already moved on to the next city..."

"Ultor was his goal for the expansion, as for why he stuck here...new technology..."

"New technology?" Marko repeated...then made a rather amused look. "I'll have to look at what you guys are up to here...chances are I'm here to take on the Saints, right?"

Kiki nodded softly. "The Deckers aren't really fighting savy, and Killbane has that detested Murderbowl...thing..."

"Eh, fuck Killbane and Murderbowl." Marko stated, but nodded. "Still, what with CEO now having an attack dog busy, and his hacker, I guess I'll handle a few things here and there...So where's our first stop...?"

"The Tower. Phillipe wanted to talk to you..."

* * *

"You think that's going to stop me, little man?" Killbane stated, flexing his muscles through his suit.

Marko smirked softly, still holding his gold-plated 45 Shepard at the guy who was standing a good head over him. "No, just get your attention, dog..." He states, then aimed his gun towards Killbane's kneecap. "Just showing you that you're not all that scary...especially if you hit a man's soft spot...You can't crush human skulls if your wrist has a giant hole in it..."

Killbane arched a brow and frowned, but never got the chance to open his mouth.

"Enough, Marko..." Marko already knew that was Phillipe, and for a moment he kept his gaze to Killbane before grinning, and placing his gun in the holster under his jacket.

He twisted with his feet, swiveling over to face Phillipe. "Hey old man. I hear you have a bit of a problem wearing purple..." He grinned. "Any plans you want to tell me or am I just here to flirt with your 'visions'?" He states, holding his hands out, waving towards Kiki, who was next to him, and Viola, who was behind the old Man.

Phillipe let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette before looking to his son. "Marko, I hope that in the end, you are not needed. I am going to try and deal with some smalltime troublemakers."

As Loren got close to the table, Marko noticed that the old man hand a folder under his free arm. Soon, Loren placed the folder on the table and opened it. As Marko came in closer, he could see mostly small rap sheets, with pictures resting on the side.

"As a precaution, I had Matt Miller hack into the Stilwater Police Department to get personal rap sheets of all the Saints, as well as personal information..." Loren started setting each rap sheet on the table, spread out so one could see each sheet without moving them. "...They were merely young juveniles when they joined the Saints, and each one has a part in destroying Stillwater. Kane above all else, as he was noted for killing at least eight to ten different gang leaders. I made the mistake in believing they were prey that could be killed so quickly...I was wrong in that judgment..."

Marko looked down at one sheet, and tilted his head lightly as he picked it up. "...Who the hell is this?" He stated, eyeing a woman with face-paint over her face.

Matt was the first guy to respond. "Painted Face, it seems the chief of Police doesn't have any information of her real name or background, but it is suggested that she was the one that killed a very powerful soldier by the name of Mr Sunshine. Voodoo I hear..."

Marko looked for a quiet moment then blinked. "Wait, I remember her. She was in Liberty City four months ago, hunting down a 'Dex Jackson'. Some of my guys worked alongside her to hunt him down, but lost track of him at the airport..."

Matt nodded soon after. "The information provided made me believe that she left the Saints when the Saints joined Ultor. She's been freelancing until recently, when she was spotted working alongside the Saints..."

Marko looked about on the table. "...Johnny Gat isn't here..." He stated and looked up at the others. The look on Loren and the twin's faces...that gave him the information he needed. "...You guys took out Johnny Gat? No wonder they're pissed..." He states, placing the rap sheet down. "Still, I know a few people that hate the girl's guts, I'll give them a call, see if I can get them here in a few days..."

Phillipe nodded. "Do it...meanwhile, Ladies...let us continue business as usual..."

"Yeah, this is business as usual..." Painted Face muttered as she pulled her head out the window, firing once. The hit on the tire flipped the Justice over and into another Justice, taking out the occupants of the second car. The second car suddenly swerved, hitting a third car, which slammed it into a wall.

Kane was in the passenger's seat, while Painted sat behind the driver's seat. Painted huffed lightly and looked to the two. "Seriously? We used to do this with drugs and shit, now merchandise?"

Pierce looked back. "Hey, people love us. They'd love our shit here too..." He stated with a grin. "We get fans out here, Steelport will be ours all that much faster..."

Painted Face shrugged a bit. "Eh, guess I can live with that..." She eyed out the window as another Morning Star car rolled into view. "Still, to be chasing after us this much for fucking merchandise..."

Pierce shrugged. "They be hatin'"

Painted smirked. "Of course."

Pierce smirked and turned to Kane. "Hey! Watch the corners, that loses their value..."

Kane made a face. "…What?"

"It loses its value if it's damaged, their worth a lot as collectables..."

Kane looked to Painted, who merely shrugged in response. He turned to Pierce. "Seriously, who would collect this shit...?"

* * *

"His...Shades..." Jimmy muttered, finding a pair of sunglasses from the wreckage of the Morning Star Plane...


	6. Hit the Red Shirts

Hey guys, let me know if you guys like this story and if I should continue it or not. Again. Nothing is mine except Painted Face, and Kane is owned by Alith Anar. Please R/R

* * *

5\. Hit the Red Shirts

By DahkPanda

Paul looked like a potato.

Oh sure, Painted Face may or may not have some Irish heritage, but it wasn't that which made her think like that. To her, the Saint's connection to Ultor, the man who seems to be behind some of the Saints fame...looked like a potato.

Perhaps it was the skin, it was a dull brown that was obviously a fake tan sprayed upon the guy at one point, somehow even getting on the inside of his hands. For a short, old man, his head was as thick as his neck...which was equally thick. Small nose, small, beady black eyes that held thick glasses that magnified his eyes four times its regular size. His shoulders were just a little beyond his neck, with his hips being wider, and under those were a pair of short stubby legs. All this incased with a light tan suit, white shirt underneath, and a purple tie to hint at his connection to the Saints.

Honestly? Make fun of her for her ethnic heritage but the fucker looked like a potato to her. Barely tall enough to meet her hips. She couldn't understand it, how this fucker was even realistic, but he was there, as plain as day.

Pierce had his back turned the moment Paul arrived, throwing darts though pausing ever so much whenever Paul spoke. The group was in the Broken Shillelagh, a small quiet bar in the middle of Steelport. Painted had to hand it to Pierce, the place wasn't too shabby.

She wouldn't tell him that, but that's beside the point.

Paul continued to speak, looking directly at Kane, who was more than a bit amused by the short man. "...In general, since you made sure that we could watch your account at your bank, we did see the transfer to another location. I'm afraid it will take several weeks to get the paperwork in and get your money back to you, but I will try to start right away."

Did Painted forget to mention that Paul had this very sickly-sweet voice? It was unnerving as fuck to hear this man talk like that cliché pedophile that shows liked to make them out to be. The way that Paul wrung his hands too, there was just something off about the guy.

No wonder Shaundi turned on her heels the moment she heard Paul was in town.

Kane waved Paul off with his non-beer hand. "Eh, no worries Paul. We got some money rolling in for now. If you can fix it, then do so. We'll try to keep the Saints financed in the meantime. Does Ultor want me to do anything else? Probably can send out my boys to spread some chaos while I do a commercial or two..."

Paul shook his head. "Actually, no. We may need Shaaaauuundi to do another ad for her new show, but otherwise Ultor is giving you freedom to do whatever you wish for now." The way that Paul said Shaundi's name sounded like he was halfway drooling. "We are, however, bringing what you requested, it will be here by tomorrow if you wish."

That made Kane cheer slightly, his hands over his head with the beer slightly tipped. This confused Painted more. "...Requested? The hell did you request?"

...She wasn't exactly sure what she just saw, but one moment, Paul's back was to her. The Next? He was facing her. It wasn't magic or anything, she saw him...move? He didn't move his feet, he didn't turn like any regular individual. It's like he was on a merry-go-round and pivoted to face her.

"And who is this vision of Loveliness?" Those were Pauls words, and they made her skin crawl.

Kane looked at her almost apologetically...almost. "She's an old comrade, Painted Face."

The Potato man instantly grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. Her sweaty, clammy hand that felt even wetter the more he held her hand. "Oh, such rough, tough, but somehow smooth skin. I could find a way to making her popular to the masses as well." He states, and gives a rather wet kiss to the back of her palm.

The look on her face must have been priceless. Kane covered his eyes with his glasses, holding onto them while snickering under his breath, and Pierce's shoulders were shifting, as trying to hide a chortle or two. Painted glared at the Potato Man and pulled her hand away. "...No thanks...and if you touch me, I will personally..."

"I don't mind a little damage..." Paul replied hopefully.

"..." Painted stared at the man for what seemed like several moments, then looked over to the dart board. "Pierce, I'm playing you. Move over..." Her movements away from Paul may have been a little too quick to get away from him. The Lioness' claws had been retracted and she ran away from…

...well, there wasn't really anything in the world as creepy as mister potato man.

* * *

"_Y'know...we're about to kill a high ranking asshole in the oldest gang in Stilwater, and you're perfectly calm..." _

_Kane had to raise a brow while glancing to the passenger seat to the newly 'borrowed' Cosmos. Riding Shotgun was Jackie, dressed in a pair of jeans and a violet jersey over her muscled frame. She was clutching the weapon that was given to them by Dex, the McManus Sniper Rifle. To see such a weapon coming out of Friendly Fire was strange enough, though to see Jackie speak sweat words to it that made it all the stranger._

_Jackie shrugged lightly in response to his statement and grinned. "Eh, gives me the time to shoot one of these babies...been a few years since I touched one."_

_That got Kane's attention, as he looked to the dark haired girl. "Really..." He looked at her muscled arm before looking back to the road. "...Military Branch?"_

_Jackie stopped her idolizing the gun and turned to him, looking a bit surprised. "Marines...Actually had offers to continue my training and join the Seals but an old Injury cut me off of military..."_

"_Head...?"_

_Jackie shook hers. "Nah, knee. Shrapnel from a mine when I was out in the hot desert road. I got lucky that I didn't lose the leg, but the damage keeps me from running too fast or too long. Said if I tried to continue my career as a Marine or even Seal, I'd probably lose the ability to use it..."_

_Kane flinches. "Sheesh...sad to say I never got that far..."_

_That got Jackie's attention. "Wait, what branch?"_

"_Infantry, actually gone to Special Forces before they kicked me out for sleeping with the Nurse...and her assistant...and perhaps that one young barber girl..."_

_Jackie snorts. "Huh, who'd a thought that you'd be a playa..."_

_Kane shrugs lightly. "Didn't really care for the rules, I like the guns, I like the flying. Hell, I flew a helicopter when I was eighteen...pretty damn good at it if I say so myself."_

_Jackie shrugs. "Not making fun of ya, just surprised you finally started to talk about yourself, instead of talking about the shit you and Johnny are doing...or perhaps LIiiiiiiiiinnnn~"_

_Kane growled. "Oh shut up...we're here..." He slowed the car to a crawl, before jumping out, grabbing a duffle bag, and making his way up the building, with Jackie on his heels._

"_So...Do I have a shot?" Kane asked, slowly fixing the scope upon his own McManus gun, watching as the meeting below them started. Hector Lopez wasn't quite in view yet, and Dex asked him to wait until he and the Columbians were close enough._

"_Hmm?" Jackie was on one knee (probably her good one) as she aimed her own at the Carnales._

"_...Well…you think I have a chance with Lin?" Kane had to look away, as if something else caught his attention._

_The response? Jackie laughed, which made Kane's heart sink...until Jackie added. "Honestly? The fact that you're one of the few Saints who hasn't humped her leg upon the first meeting, you've already left an impression..."_

_Kane response was just a small smile as he looked down his scope again. _

_Jackie looked through her own scope. "Lin was always into the strong and silent guy...those who run their mouths like an asshole generally don't get too many positive reactions from her. Though, again, the terms 'Bitch' and 'Ho' are usually the triggers. You never once said either of them. Hell, the moment you said something, she was actually more surprised by the fact that you could speak."_

"_Once you started talking to her, she started to talk a bit more about you. You never overtalk, you tend to keep your mouth shut at the right time and even when you do talk, you get to the point. Plus you listen to her a shit ton, which is bonus points." Jackie took a moment to think on it. "Take her out to a sit-down place. Nothing fancy and not freckle bitches. Take her to a kung fu movie or action flick, she loves those action flicks more than romantic crap you see these days."_

_Kane grinned. "Thanks for the info..." He stated, and fired..._

"_...You're trying to hit him, right?" Jackie asked, looking through her own McManus at Hector Lopez, who was now looking around from where that bullet came from. It missed him by a mile._

_Kane growled and recocked the gun. "Shut up..." He stated, and pointed...and fired._

_He missed by a mile again. Jackie glared over at him. "Want me to take the shot?"_

_Kane reloaded and growled before taking aim. Just as the Lieutenants were about ready to escort Hector, the leader of Los Carnales was finally shot down with a bullet to the throat._

"_Nice shot, though it did take you six times..." _

_Kane growled. "Shut...up..." An Explosion hit the wall just below them, and both took aim once more. "Shit, they have rocket launchers here!?"_

_Jackie smirked. "What? You thought this would be easy?"_

_Kane sighed and leaned in, trying to fire, but rolled to avoid a rocket passing by. "Damn it." Several other explosions indicated...well, nearly dozen and a half guys were shooting at them._

_Jackies sighed a little and took aim. "Seriously, could have just zoomed in to shoot him, but noooo..." She stated. She fired three times, then rolled herself from a rocket explosion. "Three down..."_

_Kane looked at her. "Bullshit..." He looked over...as the Lieutenants were loading their rockets. Sure enough, there were three guys down. He ducked down again and stared at her. "Not Bullshit..."_

_Jackie just grinned. "Here's a trick, hit the guys in the red..." She rolled back into fray, aimed, and fire the last two shots. "Two down..."_

"_Seriously? Really? I'm going to be beaten by this little shit..." Kane muttered and loaded before pulling his gun out and firing three times...he hit one guy in the shoulder. "No way. Ain't no way I'm going to get beaten by you..."_

_Jackie aimed her gun and fired twice. "Two more...That makes seven for me...you want to count Hector as four to try and even the score?"_

"_Oh, fuck you..." Kane muttered as he aimed his gun...then growled and tossed it. "You know what? Screw this!" he muttered as he went for the duffle bag, and pulled out a rocket launcher as well. "Let's give them a taste of their own..."_

_Jackie unloaded her entire round. The sounds of explosions just stopped now. _

_Kane frowned and looked over the edge...and found that the entire group of lieutenants were down. He stared for a moment before turning to Jackie. "Not cool, man, not cool..."_

_Jackie grinned and shrugged. "Hey, just proves who is the better Hitman..."_

* * *

The moment Mr. Potato Head left the bar was the moment that Kane saw Painted's tense frame go slack. She was losing to a game of darts with Pierce, though Kane figured it was the greasy Paul that was messing with the already insane girl. Hell, that was proven only moments later when Painted threw a dart and made a perfect bullseye. Kane smirked a little and sipped his beer. "This doesn't seem like your kinda place, Pierce..."

Pierce grinned and threw a dart. "What's to hate? The beer is cheap, and I'm the best looking motherfucker in here..."

Kane laughed lightly as he sat back, though after a few moments, he settled. "Look, you may think it's time to kick back but I'm done toying with these bastards, I want Loren and I want him now. Where is he?"

Pierce shrugged. "No idea." He tossed a dart, catching up with Painted with surprising ease. "But 10k says he's hiding in that big ass skyscraper."

Kane's brow furrowed. "Loren's a tactician, he's not gonna hole up in a building that screams 'I'm a criminal mastermind.' I need something concrete."

"That's what you boys have been up to since I left..." Painted retorted, and tossed a dart as well. This earned a glare from Kane, though by the tone of Painted's voice, it was anything but anger towards him. He chose to ignore it.

Pierce smirked lightly. He was going to beat Painted Face in a 20k dart game. "Then hit up Powder."

Kane raised a brow. "I don't have time for a stripper."

Pierce cursed when Painted hit her target, suddenly he was being beaten. "No, Powder's a designer gun store downtown. I saw some of Loren's thugs talking to the owner, there's gotta be something there..."

Painted tossed a dart...though hearing 'designer gun store', she missed. The dart hit some guy, holding up his drink...though he pulled his hand away to find that the dart somehow struck between his fingers and into his drink. "Designer gun store? Hell, where do I sign up?"

Kane grinned. "Well then, let's go shopping."

* * *

Because both Pierce and Painted were joining the fray, Kane couldn't call in his new Temptress in and instead brought in a Infuego. Along the way, Painted called up Shaundi...more or less to sweet talk the girl into joining in (Shaundi was still a little pissed by not taking out Loren right at the beginning). Still, it took Painted to use the magical words...

"Phillipe owns a gun store in town named Powder. Wanna go shopping?"

It wasn't a real surprise that by the time that they arrived, Shaundi was already there, scoping the place out. Kane made sure to drop the Infuego out in an alleyway before the team met up with Shaundi. Kane was the first to say anything as he looked near the front of the store.

"Lotta people with guns in there. We'll go in the back way..."

Pierce didn't seem too amused by this. "You don't think the back's guarded."

The group moved their way to check the back. Kane smiled at what he saw. "There's like, two punks..."

Pierce waved his hand to them. "What about the inside, motherfucker?"

Shaundi slumped her shoulders and sighed, before reaching back and grabbing one of Painted's guns from her hand. Quickly, Shaundi fired twice, and watched the two guys drop.

Painted grinned as Shaundi handed her back her gun. "Put in your tampons and let's do this..." Shaundi growled as she moved to the back door. Kane smiled and shrugged his shoulder before following after, Painted followed and Pierce...just sighed before following.

Several men jumped out from the back door and within moments, it became a firefight.

Kane was the first to respond to this. "Great plan, Shaundi" He stated, taking out a few guys with his dual Silver Shepards, gleaming so brightly that it was blinding his opponents…or he'd like to think that.

Shaundi growled as she shot the next guy in the face. "You said two guys. Not my fault."

Kane grinned to her. "No. I'm serious...this is my kind of plan."

When everybody in red was down and out, the foursome made their way into the shop. Painted had gone in first, and the moment she stepped in, a single, bright light could be seen, glancing right off her cheek. It took her all of a few moments before she ducked and rolled just as a stray bullet passed bye.

"They have Snipers in here!" Those words from Shaundi made Painted roll her eyes, when she could, she gave Shaundi a glare that read "no shit, Sherlock" before running for another location, dodging the bullets headed her way. She wasn't surprised when Kane managed to take out one of the snipers with a pistol, before she rolled behind a shelf filled with guns.

The second sniper was taken out by Pierce, though it took a full load from the rifle he brought in.

Shaundi shot at the third, though that man ducked behind cover. Painted noted the catwalk the man was standing on, and grinned. She ran away from the shelf and under the catwalk. With one quick movement, she fired upwards and took out the third sniper.

Once the smoke was cleared, the group came together again. "Whoever's in charge here probably knows where to find Loren."

Kane nodded. "Let's head to the office and see if they're hiding under their desk..." He states, cocking his guns and making his way to a locker area before finding stairs that led to the catwalk, and possibly the office they needed to get to...

...Too bad there was a giant beast of a man standing in front of said stairs, completely armored and armed with a...

"MINIGUN!" was the last word from Pierce before he dived out of the way from a barrage of bullets. Painted rolled behind another shelf whilst Kane and Shaundi both took cover behind the wall, having not entering into the room just yet. The massive man of muscle let out a roar as he waved his minigun from side to side, the shelves and all the boxes upon them being littered with bullets.

Painted turned her head to find Pierce trying to turn the corner and fire, only for the bullets to strike out nearby him, making it impossible for him to counterattack. She could hear gunfire from the doorway as Kane and Shaundi were trying to attack, but they too had to pull back when the arcing attach came their way. In fact, the only location that the massive brute wasn't focusing on was her.

A mistake that he'll regret... Painted thought as she rushed from one shelf to a shelf facing perpendicular to the last. As she stepped out from the far side of the second shelving area, she was now behind the large beast.

And in seconds, the minigun suddenly jammed, and that's all that Painted needed. She rushed out behind the beast, and pulled out a knife. As she ran by, she slashed at the beasts armpit as he had his arm up to smash upon the minigun. The cut was deep, and it got the big guy's attention. Quickly, the beast got back up again and tossed his fist to crash down upon the painted woman, only to hit air as she merely danced away. As she slide in front of the beast, her knife found its way into the beast knee, slamming into the kneecap so hard that the knife embedded itself far too deep into the leg for it to be pulled out….but it did its job as the beast fell to his other knee, letting out a roar in pain.

Painted slammed the butt of one of her pistols into the beasts face. Normal man would have gotten a broken jaw but this guy just looked pissed afterwards. The beast threw his fist out to try and catch the painted girl again, but yet again only found air. The woman had slide to the other side and slammed her foot….onto the knife. Pushing it deeper into the leg and cutting through everything inside, blood spurt out now and another howl of pain from the beast.

The beast clutched the leg with one hand while clenching his teeth. He didn't attack this time, which gave Painted the opening she needed. She kicked the beast in the jaw, and sent the giant man down onto his back. As nimble as she could, she lept onto the beast and stood on his chest. With her pistol, she fired right into the giant man's jaw.

To the surprise of the three onlookers, and to Painted herself, it took several shots to even do damage to the beasts cranium, though finally after the fourth shot, the beasts head exploded in gore, leaving the ground stained with blood.

The three wandered up as Painted gleefully stepped down, pulling out a cig and placing it into her mouth. After lighting it and inhaling, Painted glanced to the other three and shook her head. "You guys do sure keep pissing off some big boys..."

Pierce was more stunned to really respond to her. Instead, he managed to state. "That guy looked like that one dude from the store..."

Kane had to pull off his glassed to look at the body…though the head was missing, he remembered the guy he had to take out. This dude looked just as built as the first one. Still, he didn't really fret, he just pulled up his shades and grinned. "Eh, probably his twin or something..."

Pierce shrugged lightly as Kane grabbed the minigun. With a wild grin, Kane turned to the others. "All right, let's take out everything that has a red shirt..."

* * *

"To be honest..." Phillipe managed, dabbing at his cigarette lightly. "I was expecting you to bring up plans of ways to remove the Saints from Steelport with a few of your operatives. I had not expected you to bring in your own hired guns, Marko.."

The younger man just glanced back to this old man and smirked. Marko should have made that bet with Kiki to see how long Phillipe was going to complain about hiring the hitmen. That was his old man, always thought about money first and…that's it. To get the best of the best meant that your wallet was going to be a heck of a lot emptier by the end of it. Still, Marko did state he was going to bring in a few guys, and at least half of these guys he has used before...

He called up a handful of hitmen to come in and help out. Some were guys that he just dealt with once or twice while others may as well have been in his pocket since the beginning. The first two that had arrived were some of his closest. The moment they got the call they were already on the jet to head to Steelport. The first guy was an old friend of his back in Liberty City, and the moment that this hitman heard about who they were after, almost flew the jet himself to get here. To the Syndicate, this guy was a nobody, but to Marko he was one of the best thugs out in this business. The Ski mask was mostly Marko's idea, as the guy didn't really wanted to get known to anybody outside his city. Still, brown coat with jeans made this guy look to be nothing but a peasant amongst royalty in Phillipes eye, but he could hold his own.

The other guy was another that was close...for the most part. Marko knew he was a hitman back in Stilwater years back, and had a vendetta against the Saints. Hell, he was the first person that Marko thought of when it came to fighting against the Saints. Dressed in a trechcoat and matching black outfit, the only strange thing about the guy was the fact that he wore a mask as well…and always wore it. Which wouldn't be bad...except the mask was fucking creepy. It looked like a gimp mask, with a zipper where the lips were, and buttons were the eyes would be. No hint of a nose and lumps were the ears would be. The guy just resembled creepy. And the very large gun that this guy carried made sure that you never wanted to make fun of the guy at all.

"Look, Pops. As much as you're looking at dollar signs with these guys, understand that we should not take these guys lightly. Six gangs fell under these fools already, and two were particularly powerful." Marko stated and looked back to his old man. "hell, the Ronin was a gang you had your sights on because we could find a beneficial relationship with them, much like your rabid hound in a Luchadore Mask. Let me take care of the gang, and you continue onto Stilwater. Money will come back again in ten fold in the future if we take out the issue now…" Marko grinned at his ever frowning old man. "Does that work for ya?"

Phillipe said nothing, instead just turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Marko with the DeWynters. The Hitmen having left a few moments after Phillipe did.

Marko whewed lightly as he sat back on the table. "It's times like these when I really had dealing with the old man, y'know...?"

Viola fidgeted lightly, and Kiki grinned to her sister. Kiki looked to Marko and shrugged. "You think this'll work?"

Marko shrugged casually as he pulled out his own cigarette. "Eh, depends..."

"D-depends?" Viola stuttered, some of her bitterness was gone, and looking like a shy little girl in front of their Boss's son. Kiki understood why though, as she knew that Viola had...something for Marko. Marko was nice to the DeWynters, something that both kind of liked despite the professional relationship with Phillipe.

"The Saints are chaotic and random. They use a lot of low brow tricks in order to get things done, rather than using money to make things go away..." Marko grinned. "hell, I heard in order to take out an armored car, they hit it with a stolen bus." Marko inhaled the smoke from his cigarette. "I didn't recognize the girl, Painted Face, because she had a helmet on her head the time I saw her in action. Wasn't until I remembered her story about going after an ex-Saint named Dex, who had come to Liberty City for a while before he made his escape. If she's just one of the many examples about what the Saints can do...Steelport might be leveled if we don't take care of them here and now."

Both DeWynters looked surprised by this. By all means, they had heard about the Saints reputation of being wild...but this was when they were making commercials and TV shows with Ultor. To think they had this much history of violence...well...it's like picking a fight with a lion. Sure, if you had the right tool you could beat it, but it's still a lion that could take your head off at any moment.

Marko's cell rang suddenly, and he picked it up. "...Matt Miller? Yeah, what do you got for me...they're having a what set up?" Marko made a face...though grinned. "Thank you, Matt, I know what I want to do with this info..." He states, and hangs up.

Slowly standing and tossing his half-gone cigarette away, he grins and holds his arms out to the DeWynters. "Well, my lovelies, I think I need to borrow you two for the time being..."

Viola smiled just slightly, though Kiki raised a brow. "For what?"

Marko wrapped his arms around both their shoulders, and slowly led them to the elevator. "A little party that the Saints had just booked. I'm gonna head over and say hello..."

* * *

"You got it here already!?" Kane stated in excitement. "Yeah, yeah, book it. I need a little bit of everything there, call the presses and everything. I want everyone to see..."

He hung up abruptly and held out his hands, looking over to the others, who were just...finishing killing the last red-shirted man that was in the room. Shaundi had already gotten the information they needed several minutes ago and were making a path to get out of there. So no surprised everyone looked over at Kane dumboundedly.

"Okay, guys! Don't be mad..." This earned glares from the girls and a brow raise from Pierce. "But they brought 'it' here! We need to head back to HQ, there's going to be a celebration for it coming here!"

Shaundi groaned lightly, and Painted raised a brow. "It?"

It was like watching the gears turn in Pierces head before it suddenly clicked in his head. "Oh, You mean…IT IS HERE?" He asked, and Kane swore he could hear a girlish squeal come from his large black lieutenant. "Hell yeah, we need to get this show on the road."

"It?" Painted Face repeated, glancing to Shaundi, who was already marching her way to the door, glancing to and fro to make sure there wasn't anybody coming around the corner.

Kane grinned as he walked side-by-side with Pierce past Painted. "It's going to be so cool. With bright lights, sparkles, dancing girls. Hell, even the Press!"

Pierce grinned in return. "You think that one cute reporter is coming?"

"IT?" Painted repeated again, glaring at the back of both their heads as she walked behind them.

Shaundi groaned again as the two boys laughed.

"You bet she'll be there. You might even get her number this time!"

Pierce squealed again. "Fuck yes! I can't wait till we get there!"

"HEY GUYS!" Painted growled, getting the attention of everyone. "What is this 'IT' You're all talking about!?"


	7. 3rd Street Original

All right, sorry folks for the wait. I'm trying to set these up weekly, though I think with the other tasks these next few weeks, I'll have to do this every other week instead. Still, hopefully you guys do like this series. Review if you can and let me know of anything that might need to be fixed. I try to keep myself up to date so I don't make too many errors in my own story, but since I've been trying to write these up I keep forgeting to throw this over to my Beta reader/Editor. But anyways, do let me know if you all like this series.

Again, Painted is my character, Kane is from Alith Anar.

* * *

**6\. 3rd Streed Original**

By: DahkPanda

"_That is one hell of a tattoo..." _

_Kane just sat back at one of the rotten benches of the Church, watching as several of the regular Saints were standing around one large guy, who had his shirt off. Across his belly, was a rather large tattoo. The top handlebar of the tattoo read "3__rd__ Street", with a Fleur de lis underneath. Below the Fleur was the bottom handlebar that read "Saints" upon it. _

_Kane recognized the guy that was showing off the new tattoo, he was one of the first guys that joined up after him, once they got the entire Row to the Saints. One of Johnny's enforcers, if he recalled. It wasn't exactly an impressive tattoo, just a quick bit of lettering with the main attraction being the Fleur de lis...But honestly? It was still an impressive sight to behold. Kind of a way to mark yourself as a Saint for life._

_Johnny Gat himself walked up to the crew and waved them off. "Not too bad, but how about..." He lifted his shirt up to reveal his own tattoo, similar to the guy-that-Kane-couldn't-remember-the-name-of. Only one thing stood out differently from the other guys._

_Bottom Handlebar still had "Saints" written in_

_But just below the handlebar, was the word written in small texts "Original"._

_Such a little addition to the tattoo did leave a little awe in the room, and many of the new guys all managed to curse in positive ways to say just how awesome the tattoo was. Kane couldn't help but feel a little proud that he was somewhat brotherly towards the loud mouth boy named Johnny Gat._

_A hand was placed upon his shoulders. Normally, he would have turned to punch whoever touched him, but it was a delicate touch. Rough hands that helped put a car together but still quite soft...he remembered _

_it well. _

_Kane looked up at Lin, who was smirking down at him in response. "Admiring the boys are we?"_

_His response was to 'pfft' before he pulled his hand back, and with just a gentle push, ushered Lin to stand in front of him instead of behind the bench. Her response was to sit right next to him, offering him the chance to wrap the arm that pulled her, around her shoulders. "Eh, tats aren't really my thing..." He states, ignoring the irritated looks of the many boys who wanted to get into Lin's pants gave. _

_Lin smirked. "Body is a temple, eh?" judging by the very strange look on Kane's face, she laughed. "You'd be surprised how many of us actually have high school degrees. Just so happens I was better at working on engines than regular schoolwork."_

_It was Kane's turn to smirk at that. "Well, you turned out all right..." He muttered, perhaps a little shyly towards Lin. Though honestly, he noticed that Lin loved that about him. The two got together only a week after Jackie gave him the 'hints' that would get Lin's affections...and it worked. The fact that Lin often didn't really interact with the others too often made him forget that...by all standards, Lin was family to Johnny and Jackie. Stories of them being inseparable in their youth was heard all around the church, with the distancing was that Lin had moved to another part of town, and Jackie had gone to the Military. Johnny was the only one who didn't get too far. _

_Johnny going to the military didn't go over nearly as well. Something about his psychosis or something like that. Though honestly Johnny looked like a wet noodle. Thin as hell and really only had his mouth. Kane started to wonder just how much of his bullshit he actually did…not counting all the stuff with the guns, Kane believed that within a second. But to bench press almost 200 pounds…Johnny was barely one-hundred twenty five pounds._

_Still, nobody ever bothered to make fun of Johnny...nobody._

"_Put your shirt on, you flat-chested girl!" a familiar, feminine voice called out. Kane and Lin held back laughter as Johnny turned red, as that comment was obviously towards him. Jackie appeared from the aisle of the church while the rest of the room was dead silent. _

_Every Saint soldier expected a fight then. Johnny jumping at the larger girl and attempting to rip her throat out for saying such words. To their surprise, though, was the fact that all they got was Johnny flipping her off once his shirt was back on. "Shut up..."_

_Jackie grinned and looped an arm around Johnny's neck, pulling him next to the side of her breast. "Awww…you feel like crying, my sweet, baby boy? Want to rest your head on momma's tits?" _

_Johnny's reaction was to push Jackie away, earning a laugh from Jackie, then from Lin. "Fuck you, bitch..." he stated, pointing at her. Jackie's response was to just cross her arms. "Your momma had to feed you horse-feed with steroids to get you that big..."_

_A round of 'ohhhs' could be heard from the Saints, and the tension soon ceased as Jackie and Johnny started to play the 'yo' momma' jokes. Even from Kane's place, the anger in Johnny subsided. _

_Kane had to chuckle himself at some of those. It was rather true though that Jackie was more of a mountain compared to Johnny...and hell, Jackie was a mountain compared to most of the Saints. Jackie was far from the thin side, most of her body was pretty muscular, a sight that she often showed off with muscle shirts and tank tops. Her muscles weren't flat or ugly, but just the right amount of fat to it that it made her pleasing to the eyes of much of the saints. Black hair that was always pulled back into a ponytail, her green eyes always had some stray strands in front of it. Jeans that always showed off her ass and the muscle shirt/tank-tops always showed off her assets. Pushing Johnny to her breasts made them shift, enough to where any Saint in the room wished to be in Johnny's place. To Jackie, she thought she should be born a man. To many others? She was actually a perfect muscled woman…just...too intimidating to ask out. _

_People were actually surprised when Kane was a few inches taller than her, and was pretty burly himself…though honestly that was old school military training. To find Jackie was a Marine back in her day wasn't surprising in the least. And the injury was equally unsurprising. She often didn't run. If she did it was a mild sprint and not the speed that people could see her as. When she was violent, she favorted that leg, and never used in it a fight. _

_Still, Injury non-withstanding, Jackie was a tank._

_He wasn't quite sure what was said, due to the reminiscing, he just looked over just in time to see Jackie pull her shirt up, and...again, unsurprising to him but surprising to the rest of the room, she had the same tattoo that Johnny had. Granted, many of the saints were oogling the underside of her obviously braless breasts, but Kane's eyes were on the tat._

_Besides, he saw them before, as nice as they were, Lin's was better._

_Johnny finally just laughed at the end, and waved her off. "Yeah yeah...fuck off, bitch..." He managed, and soon found his way out of the room. Jackie laughed lightly as she stalked her way over to Lin and Kane and shrugged. "So how are the two lovebirds we have here?" she asked and tilted her head lightly to the duo. _

_Kane just smirked wearily as Lin rolled her eyes. "Lovebirds, eh?" She states, though her smile grew a bit. "Tell you what, tell me what you did to that one bouncer at the bar and I'll tell you what we did two nights ago…in full color..."_

_Kane turned to Lin with the look on his face that read 'don't you dare...'_

_Lin kissed his lips, a cheeky grin on her face._

_Still, Kane calmed a little when Jackie waved them off. "Eh, fuck it, you don't wanna know about that..." she stated._

_As a fit of giggled filled between the two, Kane finally looked to Jackie. "So when did you get the tattoo?"_

_Jackie smirked a bit and sat next to Lin. "Eh, most of the first guys who joined the saints got it right away. Johnny invented it himself so all could know who we belonged to..." She shrugged lightly. "hell, the only original who didn't get it was Lin here, but I think you noticed that..." Jackie wriggled her brow._

_Kane just bit his lip as Lin chuckled. _

_Jackie chuckled herself and sat back. "You should get that tat, and I mean ours and not theirs..."_

_Kane raised a brow. "The hell are you talking about? I didn't join until later..."_

_Jackie shrugged again. "But you are one of us, and you might as well been an original. Without you we were just a small gang with a small territory. Now? You got us to be a pretty big group. We owe you that much. You joined us when we were small and most of the other guys are gone already, everyone here was after you…again, you deserve the original..."_

_Kane just smiled a little. "I'll think about it..."_

* * *

The Saints Penthouse, or their new Headquarters in Steelport, was booming with life. The front of the building had a purple carpet in the front, the carpet being blocked off by purple velvet dividers, with golden stands. Two of the biggest Saints stood at the front, arms crossed and making sure nobody ever dared to cross the velvet lines. Reporters and fans galore were standing behind the dividers, all yelling and screaming while some major actors and patrons were stepping down the carpet. The Boss Kane and his posse already arrived, with both Kane and Pierce making poses after poses while the girls had already ran in That was all of ten minutes ago and it seemed that the screaming had died some, though there was the occasional happy response when an actor stepped into view.

Lights flourished, also having a violet tint to it, to add to the mix. To mark that this was a Saints event, anybody who was a dire fan or really wished to join a party just below the penthouse had to wear violet to get in. If you didn't, the two big men threw you out into the street. It was the main rule...besides not carrying any weapons, etc.

Red was not violet.

So when the Red and Black Justice pulled up, both bouncers were already agitated. The car door opened, and out stepped a tall man dressed in a black suit, red vest, red tie, and even a red scarf. He took a moment to pull the cigarette from his lips before blowing a huge amount of smoke from his mouth. He looked up at the penthouse before smirking a little. When he looked to both bounders, he gave a light wink to both of them, then moved around the car to stand on the carpet. Before moving forward though, he moved his hand to the backdoor of the Justice and opened it.

Both Bouncers hesitated when they saw a pair of toned, sexy legs, complete with black high heels. The man in red and black held out his hand and helped out the girl wearing a grey outfit. To the amazement of the bouncers, another woman was also helped out, looking exactly like the first.

Marko couldn't help but grin at the two idiots at the elevator door. It's like they never heard of sexy twins before. As the two girls came to stand at either side of him, he turned to face the bouncers and made his way into the building, heading directly to the elevator, and the bouncers. Many of the cheerers were a little more silenced, more confused than anything. Nobody really knew who he was in this town…not at all surprising to him. Everyone knew him in Liberty City, not in Steelport. Hell, the murmurs he could hear told him only a few knew of him. Who cared? Hopefully this is the introduction he needed.

The Bouncer on the right held out his hand and shook his head. "Nobody from the Syndicate can enter, this is a private affair."

Marko merely smirked as he puffed out more smoke from his cigarette. Slowly, he held his cigarette over to Kiki, who instantly pulled it from his hand.

As Marko stepped up towards the first Bouncer, the girls were right behind him. He reached behind him, having to pull up his jacket to get access to what was on his belt in the back. Before the Bouncer could even make a move, Marko suddenly struck.

In one fel movement, he spun the first knife out from behind him and slammed it into the Bouncer's chest. The Bouncer was down before he even let in a breath. Just as the second started to react, Marko pulled out his second weapon…a beautiful, golden Shepard .44. He fired at the bouncer, twice in the heart, and instantly he was down. Neither had the opportunity to even react. To the people outside? None saw it.

The Elevator door opened and the three entered it gracefully. Marko placing his gun back into its holster in the back of his belt, then turned. He held out his hand to Kiki, who handed him the cigarette.

He puffs out smoke from his lips once more, and he grins as the door shuts.

* * *

"What...the...Fuck..."

Shaundi heard Painted mutter this aloud, and honestly? She had her sympathies to the oddities that Painted was seeing now.

It had been years since she joined the Third Street Saints, and for the longest time she continued to let the oddities of this rather awkward group pass over her harmlessly. So much that some of the weirdest things in the world that the Saints did would seem normal on any given day.

To Shaundi? This was moderate type of weird that she had to deal with.

So there she was, sitting on one of the large couches that was towards the loft above. Painted sat next to her, hunched down with the floppy hat covering most of her face and a scarf over her nose and lips, covering pretty much the entirety of her face. This was predictable, as Painted had the case of being heavily camera shy. Behind the couch? Was a mob from the Press, each with cameras that were focusing over both of their heads. All one person had to do was to look down and they would have gotten a picture of both of them, almost nuzzled together like they were frightened children, unable to comprehend the madness.

At the very top of the loft at dead center was Kane, standing like some sort of fucking hero with his hands on his hips and grinning widely towards the cameras. On both sides of him were a great number of Saints, all clad in purple robes. They were aligned all the way around Kane and stood, aligning the stairs as well, each making a quiet hum while the reporters watched. Behind Kane? A large gospel all adding to the hum.

Shaundi finally moved a hand over to slowly pet Painted's slim shoulder. "There there, this is…Normal..." she states softly, though really couldn't believe it herself. When did this shit become normal to them?

She knew that Kane was a showoff, but seriously? Gospels? Robed men? The Saints kind of looked like a cult now.

The flashing of cameras made Painted wince, and once more Shaundi had to pet the other girl's shoulder. She felt bad for her old friend, the psychotic girl that blew up half of Stilwater could not stomach being here in front of the cameras. Shaundi felt like that before they became more successful...now she lived in the spotlight these days.

_Speaking of headlights…fuck... _Shaundi thought, glaring up at the guys near the roofs. She swore one guy was having a panic attack up there with how he's shaking the spotlight violently. Except another guy is doing it to, making this constant flash around the room that just doesn't seem normal.

Soon, the gospel started up, started to sing, quietly. At that moment, Shaundi saw a person step in from the left. Cameras and the main spotlight looked down to the left to reveal Pierce, in his pristine white suit. He stood upright at attention. Another person appeared to their right...Paul.

Shaundi groaned lightly, last time she had to deal with Paul personally, she could feel Paul's eyes trying to peel away the clothes right off her body. His gaze makes her skin crawl…something she had to glance to Painted, who stiffened at his presence. In the man's little, tiny hands, was a rather long package. Too large to be a pistol, but to thin to be a rifle...

...

Shaundi placed her hand slightly onto her face and sighed. "It"

Granted, she remembered what all Kane had to do to get it, and to get it right. It took years to rebuild the 'thing' that this was, something Kane used regularly during their days in Stilwater. By all accounts, there is a reason for a celebration, as Kane spent so much time and effort to get it the exact way he wanted it.

And now it's here, and Shaundi's headache grew ten fold.

This party wasn't needed, all Kane had to do was to show it off…but NOOoooOOo…

The Gospels in the back were getting louder as Pierce and Paul made their way up the flight of stairs they were closes two, mirroring each other in their steps to make this show as epic as possible.

And the reporters were drooling. She knows because Painted's hat had gotten a bit of slobber, and the masked girl was cussing up a storm now.

The gospels were at their loudest now as the two made it up the flight of stairs (to Paul's credit, he floated up), and the two slowly approached the main spotlight, where the 'heroic Kane' stood. Once they reached to basically Kane's podium, they both fell to a kneeling position. The robed Saints all soon bowed as well, and Shaundi had to snicker at the thought of the guys kneeling on the stairs. Paul, held up the long box over his head, the front of the box had been opened, and was higher than the back of the box, all so Kane could reach for 'it'.

Shaundi saw the handle already. So did Painted, as she tilted her head.

Kane grinned and soon bent a little to grasp the handle, and pulled 'it' out.

**Saintmaker**

It was a specialized Katana, the original katana that Kane had nicked once from the Ronin and had kept it ever since. He had to give it up to customize it, have it tempered and constructed so that the metal was now purple without being a paint job, the handle had a violet wrap to it and the guard at the top of the handle was shaped like a fleur-de-lis. Despite the stupidity of the show, it was actually a beautiful sword for what it was.

Kane grinned and marveled at the sight of it, he slowly held the sword up, over his head, high into the air, and the gospel suddenly grew loud again. Pierce stood and did the Saint salute. Paul stood and saluted. The robed Saints stood as well, all with their arms high in the air. Shaundi heard the gospels words now, singing "Hallelujah" as slow as they could, in all of their glory. Behind Kane was an explosion of life, with purple sparklies and even a little bit of fireworks, sparkling through the skylight above.

And just as the gospel went silent, just as the sparklies started to fade, just as Kane started to breath as if he was about to hyperventilate from sheer happiness.

A voice was heard.

"BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULLLL!"

Everyone in the room suddenly shot a look at the couch, and Shaundi had to look in disbelief from Painted, who was obviously grinning behind her mask.

Kane was the first to respond, his breathing was abrupt, and he stared directly at the painted one with a look of shock, awe, and frightened disbelief. Soon, he nearly threw his sword down in a tantrum…almost. Like he was ever going to damage that sword of his.

"MY MOMENT!" he cried out and glared at Painted. "MY MOMENT, AND YOU RUINED IT?"

Painted just chuckled and stood up lightly. "Eh, Fuck your moment. Get the Cameramen outta here and let's get back."

Kane growled and before Shaundi could blink, Kane was already down the stairs, heading towards Painted now. "This is an event, Painted, and you're not a part of it. You're only here for the job, and this was meant to help support us in our endeavors!"

Painted growled and pushed Kane back. "Fuck you, we have everything we needed for the Syndicate. All you added was a nice, purple dildo in the shape of a blade."

The reporters snorted at that, and Kane growled. "You don't understand how I need to run things..."

"Run things!?" Painted Face retorted loudly, glaring directly at him and poking him in the chest. "You think this is running things, you fucking little shit!? Did you have to do this to take over Stilwater? You had to do this to take out bosses of any of those gangs!?" She poked him in the chest again. "Tell me again why you fucking needed any of this shit!"

"The fuck does this bitch thinks she's talking to?" a voice could be heard from behind Kane. It was a new foot soldier of the Saints. Too new to know anything about anything. His hood was off, revealing his rather new face.

It seemed that Painted figured that part out, since she looked at Kane in the eyes. "New guy, eh?" she stated flatly as she made her way over to the 'new Saint'. Painted looked at him dead in the eye, the only thing of her face still in view due to her hat and bandana. "Look me in the eyes boyo and answer me this. You joined the Saints because of the drums, drugs and hospital drips? Or did you join in for respect?"

The fledgling didn't answer her. Instead his eyes drifted to the side, away from her.

Painted punched the wall right behind him, which he flinched. "LOOK…AT…ME!" she commanded, forcing his eyes to look directly at her. She stared at him for a few long moments before she backed away. "I betcha you didn't even get canonized..."

"What's Canon..."

Before he could finished, Painted flew her fist into the man's jaw so hard that he fell to the side. She herself had to spin a little before she could stop herself. "That's right...you all are fucking new to this shit, ain't ya?" Silence. "What? You fuckers got your balls in your fucking hands? You wanna be just like Pierce, Shaundi and Kane, eh? Well, fuck them..." She stated, and reached for the bottom of her shirt.

Kane frowned. "Painted...Don't..."

Painted lifted her shirt. By all means, many a folks ignored the fact that the underside of her breasts were in view. Many ignored the fact that there were scars, burns, and the fact that she was thin, but covered with muscles...

On her stomach, faded due to time and body damage, was the tattoo:

Third Street Saints Original

The room was silent, some seemed confused while anybody who knew enough about the Saints remembered that Johnny had the exact same tattoo, and that anybody who truly wore that tat, was an original. The faded part of the tattoo was clue enough that it wasn't a fabrication, she had to have been there alongside Johnny to get it.

Painted pulled down her shirt before gathering a pistol, firing at the skylight above the crowd of reporters. They soon fled outside and even Shaundi had to step out of the way. With them gone, Painted pulled the mask off her face. "I am a fucking original...I fought and bled for this gang before half of you were outta diapers. I watched friends die again and again and every time I see a fucking Saints Flow picture, I wanna fucking puke. This is the legacy of the Saints...Fuck all of you for thinking that..."

Kane growled, and clenched his fist. "It's not that simple..."

Painted turned around to him. "Not that fucking simple!?" she stated and made her way over to Kane again. "If it weren't for all of this shit, the celebrity bullshit you've pulled out, for all the crap that would have gotten the attention of a certain group in red, Johnny would still be fucking alive..." She states quietly.

"Yes, I blame you, Kane, for the death of Johnny...You took your dick and gave it to fucking Ultor and after all this time, you view me as the little shit for walking away. The moment you let Dex go is the moment I wanted to fucking kill you. And suddenly I don't feel so bad for doing what I did against the Brotherhoo..."

Kane had his gun out and held it to Painted's temple. "Continue that statement and I will turn your head into a canoe..."'

Painted placed her gun to his temple. "Just try. I'm pretty good at chicken..."

* * *

Everyone seemed unable to really say, or do anything. Any reporters outside were watching the standoff from afar and Pierce and Shaundi both just seemed awestruck, unable to move from their spots. Paul had his phone out, as if to call an ambulance…or Ultor to make kane a new head...who knew when it came to Paul.

Luckily, for everyone, somebody broke the tension in the room...but it wasn't a Saint.

"Well, fuck. Guess I really did come at the wrong time..."

All eyes, even Kane and Painted's, all turned towards the voice. To the annoyance of the Boss and the Lieutenants, they both bitterly found Kiki and Viola once more standing rather proud as they had their arms crossed over their...well-endowed breasts.

But the guy in the middle wasn't Phillipe, though he looked like a younger version of him of sorts. The man held out his hands and grinned through his cigarette. "You guys gonna shoot each other and make my life easier or do you want to know who I am?"

Kane pulled his gun away, with Painted reluctantly pulling hers. "...No…who the fuck are you, and why the hell are the Morning Star here?"

The man just grinned lightly, then winked to Painted. "Took me some time to remember you, but I did help you out back in Liberty City." He states, then looked over to Kane. "I am Marko Loren, the son of a bitch who was called in to face off against you wild fuckers..."

Kane looked to Painted, who seemed a little surprised she was called out, then turned back to Marko. "Great. So another Loren to kill, eh?" he held up his pistol to Marko.

Marko laughed, and shook his head. "You're not gonna kill me here..." he states and waved them off, turning around and slowly strolled up the stairs. "You're not gonna kill me because it wouldn't be loud enough, insane enough. Shooting me here just isn't your style..." He states, and when he hit the top he headed directly around the corner towards the bar. Kane and several Saints were already in hot pursuit...though Shaundi noticed that Painted didn't. In fact, the psycho was heading for the elevator...

* * *

Marko smirked a little as Kane followed almost obediently. He pulled out a bottle he remembered was suppose to be here back when the Morning Star owned it. It had been awhile, and this was the penthouse that his father often used for dealings. Opening the bottle, he sniffed it and sighed. Perfect. He poured himself a glass.

"So what the fuck are you doing here if you know I'm not going to kill you..." Kane stated, slowly crossing his arms…and bringing up the violet sword he had in his other hand the entire time.

Marko merely looked to Kane and grinned. "Oh, I'm threatening you..."

Kane frowned softly. "you should have brought an army for that..."'

Marko chuckled. "Yeah...Understand what you're dealing with, Saint..." he states and took a gulp of the glass. "I am from Liberty City...stuck there because poor ol' daddy thinks I'm too vicious at times for me to be around twenty four seven...but understand the Syndicate is in Liberty City..."

Kane just tilted his head as he placed his stolen shades over his eyes. "So?"

"We are also in San Andreas, San Paro..fuck, we're even in Tokyo, could you believe that?" Marko stated, pouring himself yet another glass. Kiki and Viola both smirked as they stayed by his side. "We even have some from Europe, and even Russia…the point is we're everywhere, okay?" he states, getting to the point. "To kill the Syndicate is to kill half the world to do so. You kill Phillipe, I will replace him...You kill him and me, somebody worse is going to replace us...To bite the head off the Syndicate, a head will just grow back."

Marko rounded the corner of the bar and moved towards Kane. "Let's face it. I don't really agree with my father trying to move you fuckers into the fold, because...well..." he grins. "Let's just say I'm a big fan of your guys work…but even I know trying to fight us is a dead end…You kill Loren, we kill you back...simple?"

Kane glared. "You guys deserve all that we're going to do to you..."

Marko shook his head. "You don't understand...The reason why I'm here is to take you guys out...Understand that Stilwater is under your control, but Steelport is ours. I'm going to be a nice guy because I just so happen to like you guys. You have three days to get the fuck out of Steelport...Go back to Stilwater and stay where you belong...if you don't, I will send people after you…if you kill my old man...well…retaliation is a bitch..."

Marko smirked at the uncomfortable shift in his stance. "Take it what you like, Boss of the Saints...Understand your place in the world, and understand that I am a man of my word…" he downs the drink fully, then smirks as he passes by Kane, heading towards the stairs.

Before Marko made the first step down, he paused and turned to Kane. "….By the way...Nice sword you have there..." he winked, then stalked his way down.


End file.
